


I like you, please suffer

by Loinski



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Because why have a fake ID if you’re not going to use it?, Gen, Kragin is fourteen when the story begins, Kraglin is not blue in this one, Taggs will be updated later, They are ravagers so background characters dies often, Varning: underagde drinking, Yondu is not the captain in the beginning for the story, Yondu will be a sort of mentor for him, another origin story, can't have too many of those
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-28
Updated: 2019-10-13
Packaged: 2019-10-17 05:55:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 67,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17554673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Loinski/pseuds/Loinski
Summary: “People listen up! I’m Yondu Udonta, and you are right now being robbed by the Ravagers!”A young Kraglin tries to make himself a better life and sneaks into a party to steal things. Unfortunately, that also so happens to be the exact same party a gang of ravagers decided to hit.





	1. Hi, I'm...

**Author's Note:**

> The Kraglin in this one is a mixture of the fanfics here on Ao3 because I like the thing with fandoms collectively agreeing on how things should be. It's the Kraglin from a mining planet, with a lot of teeth and a parasite too. Naturally some of it is influenced by Write_like_an_American because they have so may fanfics here, but I have also borrowed influences from other peoples works.  
> The reason why I'm writing this one is because I can't have enough of this kind of stories. The plot of this one have been in my head for a long time (I have a 5 page long synopsis) and I just really wanted to write it.

No one would say that Kraglin Obfonteri was a fortunate guy. On the contrary, his life was often struck by bad luck and misunderstandings, getting him in situations that made people ask themself how it was even possible. Despite that, Kraglin tried to endure, because he knew that he wasn't a unfortunate guy, his luck was just weirdly distributed.  
That's how a orphan kid from a mining planet ended up where he was now, waltzing around in fancy clothes on a even fancier spaceship drinking expensive drinks and dancing with successful people. He had patiently waited out the periods of unusually much bad luck and was now surfing through the period of unusually good luck.

 

Life on the planet he had been born on was hard no matter your levels of luck. Their planet had been colonised by Xandar many generations ago and as for many colonized planets the habitants had to work hard to deliver the things their mother planet wanted. Their planet was rich of important minerals and after many years the planet was turned completely into a mining planet. It had been done in an unsustainable way and the fumes from the industry had completely ruined the planets surface ecosystem, rendering it impossible to live on the surface except for The Bubbles. Kraglin had never seen one but gosip traveled fast in the underworld, gossip about rich people and Xandar supervisors that lived in forcefield domes on the surface with artificial weather and farmed plants. If you asked anyone in the underworld they would say that their highest dreams was to one day make it to the surface and to get to live in one of those bubbles. It stayed dreams for almost everyone, especially on the lower levels further from the surface. Few jobs existed outside of mining so there were not much to differentiate yourself from the rest of the bustling hordes down below, except for which level you lived on. Closest to the surface you could actually meet the surface people when they came for a inspection. If you were lucky, and not too dirty, they could sometimes offer jobs in their bubbles as servants or when they needed things repaired. So the higher you lived, the more opportunities you had. Not to mention that the substance that had a tendency to mutate your cells was higher the deeper into the planet you got. Kraglin had heard that it apparently wasn’t normal to have three rows of teeth like he had (or somewhat had, they were not fully grown yet), or six toes on the left foot.

Kraglin had been living very low down, amongst some of the deepest levels, just above the people that was so mutated that they hardly could be called people anymore. He had known that the chances for him to get to the surface and actually see the sky was non existent. But he wasn't dumb, he had maybe never went to a proper school, they don't have them that far down below, but he was good at seeing a way out of things and keeping himself alive.  
  
When he turned thirteen he realised he wanted more out of life than just being alive, just waiting for the unavoidable accident in the mines that would end his life. His streak of luck would never land him a place on the surface. Not if he did not give luck a helping hand. So he had come up with a idea to get to the surface, a very risky one. His good luck had made him survive his crazy plan, his bad luck had made him not ending up on the surface of the planet. Insted, he had accidentally ended up in a shipment bound for Xandar. So despite the fact that Kraglin was one of few people from his planet to make it of planet, he had actually never seen the surface with its bubbles because he had been locked up in a shiping container at the bottom of a cargo ship.

 

Xandar had been a million times better that the inwards of his home planet. When he got dragged out of the shipping container he got to take his first breath of real air, not artificially made and filtered. He had seen his first green plants, a weird sight after only seeing the purple moss that used to grow above his little nock in the rockwall. There were downsides too, like weather and cold. In the underground they didn’t have rain, just dust clouds from the dirt floors. And a sweltering heat from the core of the planet had always kept him warm. Now he had to learn how to keep warm in other ways. Basically he was still fighting to survive, it was just changing the  playground from underground to the streets of Xandar. He was thankful that he got of his planet, the thought of dying under all that rocks and dirt made him shiver, but thankfulness soon gave way to greed and he started to look for ways to finding this new world’s bubble.

 

Fast forward a year or so from when he manage to get of his planet and his good luck made him get to know some people that could make fake ID. He had taken a shower and clean himself up, stolen some clothes and gotten a haircut that looked really dumb but apparently was the thing around rich kids. Pretending to be 18 years old when you were 14 was maybe a bit far fetched. But Kraglin had always been too tall for his age and his hard early life made him look older compared to the rich kids in his own age that had babyfaces.

 

Looking himself over in a store window he was pretty happy with his makeover, he looked like the rich upper class Xandarian he tried to be, a ugly and clumsy one maybe, but hey, maybe he was newly rich, mommy made money on a new mining planet or something. He could even throw in some technical terms to sound legit. He even made sure to have his contact to add that he had all appropriate vaccination and everything a rich kid would have if he would visit his parents newly bought planet.

 

Maybe that was overkill, he was just planning for the fake ID to get him through the doors of a party, well inside people would probably be too drunk to notice something was a bit off with him. The party was held by some high up politicians son that Kraglin really was hoping needed to get rid of some nice shiny things that Kraglin could pawn of and live a decent life for a while.

 

Turned out the fake ID was good enough to without problems get him into that party ombord a fancy spaceship cursing the orbit of Xandra. Unfortunately, that also so happens to be the exact same ship a gang of ravagers decided to hit.

 

***

 

Kraglin was standing in a group, munching on a canapé, listening to a girl bragging about that she had slept with a princess. He was trying to figure out if they would notice if he quietly slipped away to check out what he could have this insanely rich family donate to him unwillingly. So far he had seen things he could not even dream about, like the safir fountain that splashed liquid gold instead of water, a gigantic, very ugly, floating sculpture of the kid’s parents dancing around above the biggest of the rooms with the help of some kind of hightec anti-grav field, and much more.  
  
A lot of things was valuable here, but Kraglin was limited to what he could carry unnoticed. So far he had only picked the small sticks they used to keep the tiny food together, made of platinum! and some jewelries he nicked from a guy that was allredy way to drunk and a datapadd from a unknown person in the bathroom. All things that Kraglin sure could sell and maybe rent a room for, it sure would be nice not to have to sleep on the streets anymore. The evening was still young though, and he had big pockets.

 

He did not have time to take a step away from the group he had ended up next to, to look for more goodies, until an explosion was heard and smoke spread in the room.

Panic spread through the welty masses, there were screams and running people. Kraglin looked at the smoke, not the right kind to be fire, and saw figures coming through it.

 

“People listen up! I’m Yondu Udonta, and you are right now being robbed by the Ravagers!” a short blue guy with a weird red thing in his head shouted as he walked into the room through a big hole in the wall. Followed by him was a group of mismatched aliens all in blue leather and heavily armed.

 

Kraglin’s expression soured. He quietly backed away from the new arrivals. He had heard about ravagers before yes, he was born on a mining planet that had shipped expensive minerals to Xandar, ravagers paid them a visit from time to time. Even if he had lived deep down he knew they had had a heavy artillery to ward of unwanted visitors. And for the last year he had been living on Xandar, main hub for the Nova Corps. He knew which one of the 98th this particularly group belong to, the blue leather was Stakar Ogord’s.

 

That was just his typical luck, that they decided to robb the very same ship he was on. Bold of them to try that kind of thing just outside the atmosphere of Xandar, the leader of the group must be an idiot. Kraglin took a new look at the Udonta guy just as he whistled and had a magical floating arrow, Kraglin swore that was what it was, disarmed two security guards coming their way. Kraglin had not expected to see that in his life and he was just standing and staring at the guy when he summoned the arrow back to his hand with a soft trill.  
Damn, that was cool.

 But that didn’t matter, Kraglin needed to get his bony ass out of here right now, Nova Cops would by no doubt show up any minute to save the rich bastards and he did not want to get caught in the middle of that.

 

Hasting slowly over the marble floor he tried to make himself as unnoticeable as possible. The ravagers would sure go for the people that nearly was breaking their necks under all the jewelry they were wearing. But you never knew if you would catch someones attention. Lucky for Kraglin he had spent whole of his life being an invisible nobody and a good pickpocket.  
  
He manage to get out of the main room unnoticed. Out in the east foyer was more ravagers busy pulling down a wall lamp made of, Kraglin could only assume, gold and diamonds. He skidded past them and aimed for the way out.  
The only problem was that he was not familiar with this place, it was not like the underground of his planet where he knew ever rock and stone. You kinda had to due to the fact that the power supply to the lamps lining the main road tunnels was unreliable to say the least. You didn’t want to accidentally fall down one of the mining holes just because the lights went out and you couldn't see. Now Kraglin and his people had adopted to the dark and develop good nightwishion through the generations but there is a very big difference between “dark as night” and “we are so deep down none of us have ever seen the sun” kind of dark.

So basically, the way he thought was the way out to the ships docking bay, was not.

He hoped he could find something to ride in there, some of the guests had arrived with tiny sports models, no good for long term space travel but good if you zoomed around a planet or just outside of the atmosphere, to attend to a party on a spaceship being robbed by ravagers for example. He had never driven anything that could fly but hey, Xandar was not that hard to miss since it took up most of the view of the gigantic windows of the ship.

Kraglin cursed for the third time when he had to backtrack again after ending up in a dead end. Why did this people not have signs pointing to the emergency exit? Why could safety not be fancy? They could have made the signs out of emeralds or something.

He had been running around for a while now, things was really turning chaos, all the people at the party had gotten panicked and was running around, screaming or just sitting in a corner and crying hysterically. The ravagers was doing their best to empty the place and Kraglin had seen them carry of with goodies to load in their M-ships. Kraglin was not interested in trying to hijack one of those but it would have been fun to do if it wouldn't had meant his first and last flight. Instead he was trying to find the other dock, he knew he had seen that this ship had one on each side, he just could not find the right way down to it.

 

Just when he was on his way to try a door that hopefully would lead that way, a big group of ravagers tumbled in, one of them being the guy with the arrow. Closes to him was two men, one sparkling like a diamond  and the other one had two weird arches on his shoulders that was glowing. Kraglin recognized those two men, that was Stakar Ogord and his first mate Martinex T'Naga. Kraglin took a big gulp of air and froze in place. He prayed that they would just walk by him to go and load more stuff. He could already feel the second row of his teeth trying to come down due to the level off stress he was feeling, he needed to calm down. He breath deep and for awhile he thought the ravagers would go away when the group split up and one part with the captain and first mate left.

But then the red eyes of the blue guy meet him, and Kraglin knew he was screwed as soon as he saw the big smile of mismatched teeth the guy gave him.

 

“Hey, rich boy, come and say hi to Yondu!” the pirate shouted and started to walk towards him.

 

Kraglin was not a rich boy so he pretended that command did not applied to him and turned on his heels and started to run the other way. He didn’t have time to take more than a few step before a sharp note was heard and he suddenly had to brake hard not to spear himself on a arrow now hovering just centimeters from his face. He tried to avoid it by throwing himself to the side but a sharp whistle brought it back in front of him again. He tried to get away from it and was now running in a circle being chased by it under high laughter from the ravagers. Suddenly the arrow flew down in front of his feet and tripped him. He fell ungraciously on his face which drew even more laughs. He angrily got up on his knees, if they were going to kill him, could they do it quick at least? His second row of teeth was definitely out now, gearing up for a fight. A large heavy hand landed on his shoulder and all he could think was “fuck, it’s blue” before it pulled him up from the floor.

 

“Now boy, when someone tells you to come and say hello it’s very rude to just run away. Did they not teach you manners in your fancy rich school?” Udonta said and pinched his face like a stereotypical grandma would do.

 

For a short second two thoughts was in his mind, one was “Please don’t piss yourself" and the second “I should totally stab this guy with the toothpick of platinum”. He didn’t know which one was more pathetic. Luckily he didn’t need to think more about it because just then player number two entered. From the door Kraglin was about to try before spotted, swarmed Nova Corps armed and ready.  
  
For a short second Kraglin was in the eye of the storm where everyone was just staring at each other. The next second he had a bulk of blue on top of him, completely knocking him out of breath, when the ravager duck for cover still holding him. It wasn't like he was trying to save him from the plasma bolts now flying wildly in the air, it was more of the fact that Kraglin just got in the way. Which meant it took a long while for the ravager, busy whistling like a mad man to ward off Nova Corps, to actually notice Kraglin was suffering from asphyxiation before he moved his knee from Kraglin’s throat.

 

“Oops, didn’t notice you was still here.” Udonta said grinning when he finally notice Kraglin’s weak smacks to his thigh.  

He had to focus on the fight going on again and left Kraglin to cough, hack and then take long thankfully deep breaths of air. Tears was forming at the corner of Kraglin’s eyes so it made it harder to see but he still thought that it must be hard to tell enemies apart from friends since both teams had blue clothes.

 

“One should have had red” he blurted out still with problems breathing and apparently thinking. The words came out unclear because of the second row of teeth that was not suppose to be there right now, because Kraglin was not fighting, hopefully.

 

“What are you on about, boy?” Undonta took a second to ask before he let his arrow fly through the skull of a Nova Corps officer.

 

Kraglin about then realized that that could had been his head and smartly decided to shut up and let the ravager focus on his targets. Kraglin tried to keep himself down as much as possible, the Nova Corps really put a lot of focus on this guy, with all right. Kraglin had never seen someone with a whistle controlled arrow but it was awesome and the guy really knew how to handle it. He stood out miles compared to the other ravagers, they were normal hired merch level good while this guy was militant.

Kraglin wasn't sure who he wanted to win. There was no real point for the ravagers to kill him so at worst they would take everything he owned, with was basically everything he managed to steal tonight as far. Maybe they would kill him just for fun though.  
But Nova corps wasn’t exactly a dream scenario since there would be a lot of questions about what he was doing at the party, who he was and who made that fake ID. And he wasn’t in the mood to get stamped as a whistleblower when he was just fourteen years old and in the beginning of the career of possible, not totally, legit work.  
  
But he was afraid they might actually make him talk, this Novas was no joke, it actually looked like they were at the winning side. They didn’t save on the power when it came to rich politician's kids and their was a never ending stream of Nova corps coming through the door. In the same time the ravagers had been cut off from the rest of the group and was picked off one by one. Left was just a couple and the blue guy next to Kraglin. The blue guy that suddenly curses, summons back his arrow and pull a blade out of his pocket. Kraglin stared at it dumbfounded until he suddenly felt it nick his throat when Undonta pulled him up from the floor, and held Kraglin in front of himself like a shield. What a prick.     

 

“Hey! If you don’t want this rich brat bleed all over the shiny floor you better back down and let us leave!” he shouted to the Novas.

 

Fire immediately ceased but everyone was tensely waiting to see if they were supposed to accept the terms or not. Udonta didn’t seem to like that they were calculating if Kraglin was worth sacrificing.

 

“Boy, tell us who you are. You’re the son of some rich, important people, right?” Udonta asked Kraglin, still keeping all his focus on the Nova Corps.

 

Kraglin understood what he wanted, motivation.

 

“Yeah, I’m Kraglin Obfonteri, my parents own a mining planet not that far from here. Their company supply Xandar with a lot of important minerals they would had to ship from practically Kree territory to get otherwise. It’s a business that pays well. I’m their only child so I will one day inherit it all.” Kraglin drawled on, loud and clear, or as clear as he could with too many teeth, repeating, maybe adding some more to, the story he had been telling the last couple of hours for anyone not too drunk to pretend they care.

 

“Good boy.” Udonta mumbled in his ear with a smile.

 

So maybe the “only child” part had been a bit too much if even the pirate got that it was exaggerated, but Kraglin would say anything to make them get out of the room on their own accord instead of body bags.

The Nova Corps did seems to get more unsure and kraglin saw several lower their weapons. Undonta did not give them any time to decide what they truly wanted to do, and promptly started to drag Kraglin out of there, followed closely by the other ravagers.

 

All had arms at the ready, the Nova Corps following them too. It was like a moving standstill, Nova was to unsure if the should make a move and the ravagers had lost to many to really want to do a move. And in the middle of it all was Undonta taking advantage of it all. If Kraglin didn’t have to pay attention to where he put his feet to not get nicked by the blade against his throat he would stopped to marvel at how badass Undonta was. As it was he was trying to keep up with the pace the blue guy wanted him to keep, one arm behind his back to keep pushing him forwards and the other one slung around Kraglin’s shoulder to keep the blade in place.

 

Kraglin’s heart was pounding in his chest like crazy. Everything seemed to move to fast and too slow. He didn’t notice were they were moving but still paid attention to small details like the smell of leather, sweat and the burnt of plasma bolts. He could feel the heat from his captivator, and the puffs of breath on his ear. Somehow, in the chaos of it all, he could not stop himself from feeling calm and maybe a bit safe, sure that this Udonta guy would get him out of this mess because he wanted to get out himself. There was a comfort in knowing that  others had the same motives as yourself. It was enough to calm him down to were he was able to   
  
Yondu Udonta's motives was to get them to the waiting M-ship in the hangar. Fortunately for them Udonta had a much better sense of the ships layouts than Kraglin and soon they reach the hangar. They all hastily move up the ramp to some more ravagers, uncertainly waiting in the M-ship.  
  
“Don’t do shit, we have a hostage, as long as you don’t shoot them they don’t shoot us. Be ready to take off immediately, they will be on us as soon as that ramp is closed.” Udonta shouted to the men before they decided to do something stupid.  
  
Kraglin was let go of in the chaos to get the M-ship ready for a fast departure. He quickly made himself sparse next to a big pile of stolen goods to be out of the way. He had absolutely no interest in getting off right now, the Nova Corps would go through everyone that was left on the ship and it was a high possibility they would had mistaken him for a ravager in disguise. It wasn't like he could say “Nay officer, we just accidentally crashed the same party to steal shit.”. Staying with the ravagers would give him a chance to slip out later unnoticed when they got down to Xandar or something. Or some other planet, they had to land somewhere, right? That was a problem he could solve later, right now he needed to focus on trying to hold on for dear life as the M-ship did several  loop-the-loop to get out of the way of firing Nova ships.

 

“Watch it Tullk! The Nova’s are already doing their best just to cripple us, you don’t need to change that to dead.” someone in the cabin shouted and Kraglin tried not to puke out of sheer terror an nausea when he felt weightless for a brief second at the last loop.  
  
“Ogord's ship visible!”  
  
“Tell them to let us in and give us some damn cover fire!”

 

More jerking and turning and then a loud clunk were Kraglin was thrown backwards and had a rain of stolen goods fall on him.  
  
“Seriously Tullk, it this your first time docking? That was the shittiest one I have ever seen!”  
  
“That's because you wasn't flying, then it would had been the shittiest one anyone had ever seen, Yondu”.

 

“I would like to prove you wrong but hey, we just pulled off a heist and I’m sure Stakar want to know why we are the ones of all the groups that had Novas at our asses.”

 

“That wasn’t our fault, they just showed up.”

 

“I know! You can tell him that right now. Let’s go find the captain.”

 

“What? Yondu! I ain’t telling him, you do it, he likes you!”

 

“What do you mean 'he likes me?' Just the other day he had me scrubbing the lavatories. Does that sound like something a man that loves you would do? No it don’t.”  
  
“Wasn't that punishment for…

  
Kraglin never caught what Udonta had been punished for, maybe for killing a man that looked at him the wrong way, because the ravagers was walking out of the M-ship and leaving him behind. It looked like he finally got his wish about being overlooked fulfilled because the ravagers had forgotten about their hostage.  
  
Now would be a great time to escap. Except that the ramp was opened and the view it gave Kraglin was that of an enormous hangar filled with M-ships and swarming ravagers in blue. He was onboard the biggest of the ravager ships, the one belonging to the general.  
Yes, now would be a great time to escape unnoticed. Except Kraglin had never flown anything and most definitely not followed by a potential hunting party of ravagers. So he just stayed where he was, at the floor in a pile of riches, because he was too terrified to move.


	2. Not what I had planned, but ok

* * *

The floor was hard under Kraglin. Not that strange since he was sitting on a metal floor of an M-ship and had his ass partly on a pile of various expensive shiny trinkets. He hadn’t move since they landed in the ravager’s enormous spaceship, just by breathing occasionally disturbed coins and other things around him, scaring him even further when they made a way to loud sound for so small objects. It was so quiet now, and cold, the clothes Kraglin had stolen was made for a fancy party, not to sit in a hangar with just enough heat to not have to defrost the wings of the M-ships. The hangar was big, but despite the grandness of the hangar, Kraglin still felt like he was in the tiniest of spaces, like the solid metal walls was leaning on him and not the other way around.

 

It was not a feeling he was familiar with until recent, he had never had problems with small spaces before. His people was born in them, lived in them and died in them. Small spaces and narrow places had been a part of his life growing up. But a thing had happened when he tried to get off his planet. The big Fear they called it, Kraglin had heard it been whispered in shame and mourning all of his life. People who went down the mining tunnels like every day but when they came up they never went back down again. It wasn’t uncommon, there were at least one after every accident in the mines that was struck by The big Fear and refused to return down in the dark. Since the mines basically was the only place that offered a job, people that suffered from The big Fear had two choices, get well or die from poverty.

 

It wasn’t that long ago really, just a year, even if it sometimes felt like years ago, that he left his planet. He never thought about it much, too many things had been happening the last year to give him time for that. Xandar had been a dream but a rough one, he constantly had to keep himself on the toes to keep the same pace as the other street urchins that was born at the planet and had years of experience of it’s terrain ahead of him.

 

Yeah, no, his former home had not been in his thoughts for a while, but right now he sort of missed it. Going to that stupid party got him in trouble and it just felt a little bit too much for him right now. He really just wanted to be back in the familiar and safe. Lay down on his old bed back home, the one he made himself and defended from packs of opportunists, maybe have nana come sneak him something she baked. She hadn’t been his real grandmother but she had been nice to most street kids so they all just collectively called her that. She had died a few years ago, her grave had been marked with more flowers and trinkets than Kraglin had ever seen anyone's been before, all of it nicked from various places by people who had loved her.  

He really missed her right now.

 

Kraglin felt something hit his hand and looked down. He could not see what it was properly because his vision had gone blurry. He realised that he was crying.

Furiously he tried to dry his tears, crying was pointless, but potentially dangerous because many saw it as a weakness. He hadn’t cried for a long while, not since his first night on Xandar. But tears don’t really care if you don’t want to cry and Kraglin found it impossible to stop it once they started to fall. He gave up and wrapped his arms around his legs instead, trying his best to keep his snivelling down to not draw attention.

 

Despite his best effort, he soon heard footsteps come closer to where he was sitting. They were quiet, guarding footsteps, to Kraglin’s surprise. He had expected to have heard a thunderous slam of many feets once the ravagers realised they forgot about their hostage. This was just one person, someone use to stealth, that came to check out the noise of a supposedly empty M-ship.

 

“Oh, it’s you. Totally forgot that we brought you along.” said the last person Kraglin wanted it to be. “Aw, are you crying, boy? Want to go back to mama and dada?” the blue asshole called Udonta asked mockingly.

 

He squatted down in front of him and stared at him really close while Kraglin tried to avoid eye contact and fanatically wipe his face. He had not expected Udonta, all he had seen about him was boisterous, loud and grand, his footsteps did not match the personality he was showing off. But here he was, poking Kraglin on his left cheek, so he must have finished up with the captain and came here to load off the goods.

 

“Are you just going to keep letting me poke you? Most people would have lost their patience by now.” the pirate asked and looked at him with the face of wonders only a child could had, without stopping his consistent invasion of Kraglin’s personal space.

 

“Aren’t you going to kill me if I do?”

 

“Who knows, let’s find out?” Undonta answered and gave him a cheeky smile, part of his lip accidently caching on one of his teeth.

 

Kraglin just snorted tiredly at him and bored his face deeper in his arms. The guy had a funny aura about him that flipped between make you think he would kill you but also that he was a nice guy.

 

“Are you going to kill me?” Kraglin quietly asked after a moment of silence, only interrupted by the plinks of shiny things moving around when Undonta plonked himself down next to him and lazydly stretched out.

 

“Dunno. It wasn’t like I planned to take you hostage, although, if you talk to Stakar, it most definitely was all according to plan. Maybe we can dump you off at the kitchen and they can use you for the evening stew.”

 

Kraglin looked up at Udonta in horror at that statement. That was even worse than getting shot like he thought he would be!

 

“HA! That was so funny, you should had seen your face!  Remind me to make that joke the next time I kidnap someone. But don’t worry, you’re too skinny for my taste. I like it fat and greasy, with you it would be more like sucking on bones.” he continued and gave Kraglin a big smile of crooked teeth. “So, since you are no good for stew, and we are not going to put you back where we found you, that place is crawling with Nova Corps by now, I guess we probably just going to space you.”

 

“Space me?”

 

“Yeah, you know, open the door to the black void and let you float out of here while you freez over and all your blood vessels pop,. mouth opened in a silent scream. It’s not like we have any use for you, so tiny and skinny as you are, better just to get rid of the garbage right away.”

 

Kraglin sank further down in his arms. Everything was worse than he had thought. He had never imagined they would be that cruel that they would just threw him out in space, that he would die alone and cold in the big nothingness. On his planet everyone had looked out for each other, even if they didn’t like one another, that was how you survived. But most other places, like this one, seemed to have a different definition of people that was not part of “us”. Kraglin was not used to this complete indifference to another person that existed just next to you and not high high up on the surface.

 

“Please don’t do that. I don’t want to die.” Kraglin whispered quietly.

“Most people don’t. Do you know how often I hear them say that before I let my arrow fly through some of their vital organs? Why would I even bother with you?” said in a nonchalantly tone that made Kraglin shiver. 

 

“I can be of use, I can help stealing shit, I’m skinny so I can fit into places that you can’t. And I’m quick with my hands, no one would know they lost some belongings when I past them.” Kraglin frantically started to rattle off.

 

“So you want to join us?” Undonta asked him sceptically.

 

That wasn’t exactly what Kraglin had planned but if it got him out of this alive, sure.

 

“Yeah, everybody have heard about the ravagers, you are so cool, of course I want to join!”

 

“Pfs, yeah, we are cool. But that means we don’t let anyone join. I don’t think you got what it takes, fancy boy.” Undonta scoffed and gave his shiny boots a kick.

 

“You don’t have to put me on heists, I can keep your weapons in check, or mop the floor or any other small thing in the background that needs to be done!” Kraglin desperately countered. He was not going to take up the fact that he was not a rich kid, he did not think telling the ravagers that he was a nobody would help his cause.

 

“Okay okay, don’t go promising things you will regret boy, we don’t really have that high requirements to join, as long as you contribute and follow the code you’re good.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yeah, sure. If you are not good enough that will just show itself on the next heist when you get shot in the face or something like that.”

 

Kraglin paled at that, but the tried not to show it, Undonta was testing him to see if he was squirmish.

 

“Won't your parents wonder where their precious prince are?” Udonta sneered when he did not get the wanted reaction out of Kraglin.

 

“Oh, they won't notice or care.” Kraglin answered evasive, he hadn't thought of that his made up story could get him in trouble on that point. His own parents had been long dead so he was not use to people asking if someone els was okay with what he did, it was always what he himself wanted to do. So he spoke the truth, he parents would not notice or care, because you didn’t when you were buried under tons of mud and rock.  

“So can I join?” Kraglin added and looked up at Udonta with determination. Udonta was looking at him with a unreadable expression. He seemed to mull over what Kraglin had just said more than the question itself.

 

“Well, what the heck, why not? Welcome to the ravagers!” the blue guy suddenly outburst and clapped Kraglin so hard on his shoulder that he nearly made him nosedive in the pile of trinkets. “I’m Yondu Udonta, you can call me just sir if you want too.”

 

“Wait, what?”

 

“Okay, fine then, you can call me Yondu in private but if there is other people around you shall address me as ‘master’.”

 

“That’s even worse?” Kraglin said skeptical.

 

“Don’t be a whiny child boy, let's go find a foreman to pair you up with, put you in work right away.” Udonta said grinning and pulled him up from the floor in one swift motion. The force nearly pulled his arm out if its socket and several valuable shiny things loudly clattered to the floor, rendering Kraglin deaf for a second.

 

“Now, come along, it’s a big ship, you don’t want to get lost.” Yondu cheerfully said and started to walk away. Kraglin skeptical stared at his back and then started to run after him.

 

“Now, boy… what was your name again? Krags?”

 

“Kraglin Obfonteri.”

 

“Anyway, the most important thing as a Ravager is to follow the code. You do that, you’re good. Things that are on the list are things like ‘we steal from everybody, except from each other’.

 

“Well, that sounds logical.”

 

“Yeah, exactly, but it still needs to be stated because some idiots are stupid. Another example are that we don’t deal in kids. Anyway, the foreman will give you a copy of the complete list.” Yondu rattled on and continued down the corridor.

 

He did not seem to notice that Kraglin got quiet and nervus. Kraglin kept his eyes on Udonta, were the red crystal in his head ended in scarred blue skinn, but everything around him except for that got blurry. He hoped the thing about kids was just about Ravagers not selling children and not about hiring them. But if it included both, then he had made right about not telling about the mixup of him being a rich 18 year old Xandarian brat. He just had to stick to the story so that he did not risk getting kicked of the ship before they made port.

 

“Hey, you’re paying attention, boy?” Yondu suddenly asked and smacked Kraglin lightly on the head. Kraglin realised that he had spaced out and not noticing the blue one asking him a question.

 

“Sorry, sir” Kraglin embarrassed muttered.

 

Udonta looked at him surprised and then said to himself “well, if you are that polite and respectful I guess I’ll forgive you for being a bit behind.”. Kraglin didn’t understand what he was talking about.

 

“I was saying that we are here, this is the office of the foreman on this section. If I remember correctly he has an open spot. We have been growing a lot lately so it’s starting to get a little crowded. Stakar are planning on building out the ship, add another module. But he is picky about how she looks so he wan’t to make it properlike and not just slab on another sektion.” Yondu continued and shrug his shoulder while opening a door.

 

“Udonta? You better not think you are going to work in my section anytime soon after that last stunt you pulled.” A deep and rumbling voice was heard from the shadows of the room. Kraglin could see a large, possibly overweight, person with tusks sittin in a chair at a desk.

 

“Would never dream about it. Besides, I just got of a mission, I’m about to hitting the bed in a few minutes but I thought I was going to drop of the new recruit first.” Yondu said and pulled out Kraglin from behind his back.

 

“New recruit?” suddenly there was light in the room and Kraglin involuntary flinched back when it painfully hit his eyes. A large shadow stepped forward, partially covered the light, but Kraglin still got temporarily blinded it to see anymore than different shapes of shadows.

 

“Doesn't look like much. Is it even worth it to teach him anything? He will be dead within a week.” The large figure said scoffing.

 

Kraglin could feel his cheeks heat at that. Maybe he did not look like much, he hadn’t gotten the best first impression neither, stumbling in peering like a old man, but he had survived forteen years on his own so he thought that it was at least a little bit insulting that they didn’t think he had it in him.

 

“Aww, give him a chance. For little me, please?” Yondu asked sugar sweet and leaned over the enormous arm of the foreman so he could not avoid him.

 

“I would never do it for you.” the forman irritatedly answered and pushed Yondu away. “ But fine. Okay kid, I’m going to give you some new clothes, a datapad and then a tour of the basic parts of the ship that you need to know right now. Then I guess I will throw you on the next shift, we should make it if we hury. You can start by emptying your pockets right here. Do you got a ID?”

 

Kraglin hesitantly did what he was told and pulled everything he had from his pockets while the two other men eyed him during it all. On the table was the platinum toothpicks, the jewelry from the drunk guy and the datapad. Last he fished up his fake ID and gave it to the forman. Kraglin's arm was as big as one of the man's fingers.

 

“A electro-card? I’m surprised, you look like a typical Xandar rich brat, I thought you would had a chip.”

 

“I like the old school version better,sir. Some people don’t hesitate to chop your arm of, I prefered to get it stolen without loss of limbs.”

 

“Ey, maybe this one got a brain at least.” the foreman answered and turned away to his desk.

 

“Od things to have in one's pockets.”  
  
  
“What?” Kraglin half focused asked Yondu.  
  
  
“I said, the shit in your pockets, is somewhat random. I have robbed several risch bastards but I have never seen any of them walking around with toothpicks in their pockets.”

 

“I was just saving them until I got near a trashcan, just because you have money doesn't mean you have to be a jerk that throw things on the ground, sir.” Kraglin embarrassed explained. He didn’t even know why he was embarrassed, the were made of platinum, to not save them would be insane.

 

“Uhu”

 

“Besides, you was the one interrupting me, sir, I was just heading over to a trashcan to dispose of them when you made a hole in the wall.” Kraglin haughtily said.

 

“mmhm… and you walk around with the jewelry in your pockets because it’s the new thing in rich society to spend all that money on expensive shit and then hid it away so no one even sees it. Or maybe you were throwing away the earrings too, like the toothpicks? Because you don’t have holes in your ears so I don’t see why you would not just be heading over to the trashcan with them too, doing a little spring cleaning while at the party.” Yondu asked sceptical, and raised a practically nonexistent eyebrow.

 

“Who said they are for my ears?” Kraglin answered more cocky than he most definitely felt right now. He would be lucky if he was alive in the next hour, the blue guy was onto him.

Said blue guy was looking at him with mouth open in surprise and then he did a quick once over like he tried to guess where Kraglin would have the not-earpiece. Kraglin would had gone for a something in his navel but those were not the body parts Udonta was eyeing suspected. Kraglin could feel his face turn warm again at the thought of where Yondu was guessing, he was too prudish to even have thought of those possibilities before he opened his mouth.

 

“Whait, why did you blow a hole in the wall anyway?” Kraglin suddenly blurring out, brain doing a 360 degrees on topic.

 

“What do you mean why? It was the coolest way of making a entrance, of course I was going through the wall! Only wimps uses the entrance like a boring person.”

 

“It was pretty cool.”

 

“Really? You think so?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Well, aren’t you having a nice little chit chat here? Wasn't you going to bed Udonta? If not you can take this knick-knacks and put it with the rest of the loot from the heist. Leave the pad though, no point of selling that one when the kid need one anyway.” the foreman rumbled coming back.

 

“But that's mine!” Kraglin upset exclaimed before his brain could catch up.

 

“Oh, really? Do I look like I give a shit about that?” the foreman said low and leaned his bulky mass over Kraglin, further obstructing the light.

 

“Udonta said that ravagers don’t steal from each other. That’s my things and by taking them without permission you are stealing them. And I’m a ravager now so you would be breaking the code.” Kraglin troubled pressed on, eye on the floor and squirming under the pressure of the foreman, but still refusing to bulge.

 

“Did Udonta also tell you that all loot from a heist is brought together to be sold, and the money then divided up amongst all of the crew?”

 

“Ehm… no… but this did not come from a heist, it’s my belongings and not loot.” Kraglin quietly tried with. If it worked it worked.

 

“Oh, I thought you was part of the loot too.” the foreman said mockingly.

 

“Ha! That was a good one. But come on, you got to admit that the kid got some spunk in him. Let him keep it. You should have seen the shit we brought back with us, this is just small frills.” Yondu barked and clapped Kraglin on the shoulder, nearly sending him flying again.

 

“Oh, all right then. You can keep your shit kid. And you can put this on instead of that fancy shit your wearing.” the foreman tiredly said and threw something blue at Kraglin.

 

It was a jumpsuit, nothing special about it, and not made out of leather.

 

“Sir, I thought ravagers wore leather?”

 

“We do fancyboy, but you haven’t been on the ship for a full rotation of the shifts yet and I’m sorry to inform your highness but we don’t have ready made clothes for you. How about you survive the first week and then we see if we should talk to Miss Plymm.” the foreman scoffed

 

“Miss Plymm?”

 

“The tailor here, makes all the leather for Stakars crew. Old hag, hears bad, sees bad and smells worse. Takes forever for her do her job, she mostly spends the days sleeping or playing card games. But she was one of Stakars original crew, he practically loves her, so he ain't going to get rid of her anytime soon." Yondu interposed.

 

“Which is a shame, I would need new pants but I don’t have the energy to remind her twenty times. You forgot to mention she has a bad memory, and bad hearing too.”

 

“I don’t remember the whole list, whenever you mention her I swear you add something new. Besides, if you lost some weight, you would not need to have new pants made.” Yondu bit back.

 

“Okay, I think it’s time for you to take a nap now, Udonta. Get your ass out of here. I’ll take care of the newbie.”

 

Yondu just snorted and walked out of there with a wave of his hand.

 

“So, brat, get changed so we can get you to work.”

 

Kraglin hastily pulled his clothes off, facing the other way from the foreman to preserve some sort of privacy. He clumsily got himself into the new ones while the foreman worked with something at his desk.

 

“So, this is the connection code to the ships main system. As I said before, you can use your own padd, just connect it with the ship and you will have access to your shifts and all, including your part of the ships bankaccount, it’s where all the money from the heist ends up. I noticed you don’t got the watch that goes to the padd so here is another one, it should be compatible even if it’s a older model. The code is loaded in the watch already and synkt with the ship. ” the foreman said when he came over again, handing Kraglin a watch.

 

Kraglin strapped it on, it looked big and bulky on him. He didn’t tell the foreman that he didn’t know how to unlock the padd. It would be too suspicious if he didn’t know that when it was his own thing, he had to figure out that later on his own.

 

“Now, there is a map on the ships systems but if you will come with me right now I will show you the mess hall, the bathroom and your sleeping quarters. You will be sharing bunk with two others, we don’t have the space right now to let everyone get their own, we have been growing very fast lately. That means you will be needing to follow your shifts properly and go to bed on time because your bed is only free for around 8,5 hours before the next person ends their shift and needs to use it. We work by 26 hour days, two 4 hour shift and one 2 hour. I’ll explain more on the way, let's go.”


	3. I want that meat

Yepp, this was indeed a closet. Nothing special about it at all, just a small space to put things in.

 

Kraglin had been in one just like this a half an hour ago, or maybe it was the same?  
  
Frustrated he closed the door again. What he was looking for was the room where he was supposed to be in according to his schedule. He hadn’t had time yet to look at if he could manage to unlock the pad but the watch he got was pretty detailed, basically a mini pad minus some functions. He wasn’t exactly a technical genius though, and it was that small little detail of him not being able to read Common that made him ending up in a closet and not where he should be. If the watch would had have settings to switch to his home language he would probably had been able to figure it out but what he had manage to understand it only came with Xandarian as setting. He knew a few words, he had been livin on Xandar for a year or so and picked some things up on the way, enough to figure that the red flashing light on his wrist meant he was late for a shift. But he could not find the map or the track location or anything that could help him tell where he was and where he was supposed to be.

The foreman from yesterday, his name was Raymento apparently, had showed him the basic locations so he had found the way to his first shift with his help yesterday. He had also showed him where he was sleeping.  
Kraglin wasn’t to happy about having to share bed with two others. They didn't seem to happy about it neither because now they could not sleep late and had to follow the shift strictly to sync the circadian with all three of them. Kraglin didn’t like it because they were strangers sleeping on his spot. A spot that consisted of a 4 story bunk bed in a large room with several other bunk beds. Kraglin had been exhausted previous night but he had still had a hard time falling asleep, at the bottom of the stack surrounded by strangers in a open space. Discomfort had been crawling down his body from not having a rock or brick wall behind his back.  
He missed his knifes, he had left them at Xandar before he went to the party, to afraid there would be random search from the security guards before entering the place. He would have a hard time explaining why he was walking around with them on a party.  
  
He felt naked without them now, especially at night when the snoring from the others made the hole place vibrate in a weird rhythm. He had slept with people close before, poor often did and his kind actually preferred sleeping in piles and cuddling, but this was not his people, they were strangers, pirates that took him hostage and that he only called mates because he could not get away safe yet. Kraglin tried to comfort himself that it was only the first night, soon he would find a way to get away from them, or become one of them and then he would fall asleep right away and sleep like a baby.

 

That was, if he was allowed to stay and did not get kicked off because he didn’t show up for the shift. He cursed when he ran into a dead end and had to turn, he was sure he had been on the right track this time!  
  
The shift he was late for was his forth. He had done two last night, M-ship maintenance. That had been a hard dirty work, apparently before and after every heist they went over the ships that was to be in on the action and made sure they were ready. Afterwork was more tiring because that included cleaning out exhaust dust and repairing thing that had been shot at. Kraglin didn’t know much about repairing ships, he knew about dirt and rock, so he had gotten the cleaning part, which, no lie, sort of sucked. Four hours later and his arms had been noodles and he had been covered in dust, grime and soapy water when someone finally said that it was breaktime. He had followed some of them to the bathroom first to wash his hands, he had wanted a shower but had been told that they would be going back for the last two hour shift soon and he would not have time if he wanted food.

He wanted food.

He had only eaten tiny pieces of food with the platinum toothpick in them and if he didn’t get more soon his parasite would be acting up.

He didn't tell the others about the parasite though, some people got really nervous about that kind of things, rightly so he guest because some parasites was really nasty and on a close space like a ship things could go really bad if some picked up a friend. What Kraglin had was not contagious though, it was common on his planet and was easy to pick up in contaminated food, a lot of people on his planet had it. You got it in you as a small larva and it attached itself to the insides of your body, lived on the food you put in yourself. He was so use to it that he didn’t reflect much about it, it mostly just gave it presence know when he didn’t get regular meals and enough food to eat. Because you had to eat enough for the parasite to be full first because it took all the nutrition first before letting the host have anything. That’s why he often felt the first effects as headache, weakness and dizziness. If you still after that did not eat it would start to search for food and give your stomach ache and make you feel nauseous when it wormed around in search for anything. Eventually it would start to eat on you, as a last resort to prolong its life. That had happened to Kraglin before, as a orphan street kid regular food intake wasn’t that easy. It basically hurt from the inside and it was also a quiet terrifying thought to have something eating you from the inside and out. Being on a diet wasn’t really a thing on his planet. Not that they needed it, they always had to fight against the parasites greedy appetite, it was hard to put on weight when you had to eat for two.

People on his planet was familiar with the signs of the parasite, it was an unspoken truce to always help people when their parasite acted up. Kraglin himself had given some of his meager food to people that had less.

On Stakar's ship things was more organized apparently. The others had told him to stand in the food line and when it was his turn he had to blip his ID and would then receive food in a box out of a tube. The food was apparently calculated to his species and the amount he worked. So if he had a lot of hard working shifts and his species was allergic to something that was accounted for. Kraglin was happy he had chosen to impersonate as a Xandarian, that was sort of similar to his own spices, and not something else that had a menu that was poisonous to him. He was disappointed in the amount of food there were in his box though, he usually ate more because of this species and the parasite. Apparently blipping your ID also meant that it registered that  you gotten your meal and you didn’t get more. The others around the table had misinterpret his displeasure as to him being a rich picky kid not liking the disgusting ravager food (they should only had know what kind of things Kraglin had put in his mouth during the years). They did tell him though that you could change it for more fancier stuff if you paid for it, or, pay to get more food than the base level he got with his ranking. That was ok, Kraglin just had to cut down on some free time expenses compare to others to make sure he got the food he needed without exposing himself as a imposter. That seemed as a fair trade. He hadn't gotten paid yet though, the other said they usually got paid every 15 cycle so he just had to wait to the next paycheck.

 

After the dinner he had followed the others back and continued with ship maintenance for the two hour shift and afterwards he had gotten his shower, a nervous quick one with a lot of ogling from the others. There were a lot of comments too, about him being small and skinny. Kraglin don't mind those, he knew the truth and reason. He just hoped they didn’t think too much about it and would found it suspicious to why a rich kid was so skinny.

After the shower he had followed the flock to a recreation area to have some free time with his new colleges and get to know them. So far Kraglin’s impression of them was bad but that also was sort of what he kinda liked about them. He was used to rough people and even if he was a more quiet guy he liked the rough jokes and smiled at several of them. He recognized Tullk from the heist, he seemed like a nice guy until Kraglin made the mistake of playing poker with him. It turned out the guy just have a really good poker face and all his niceness disappears when he sees a chance to crush you. At least Kraglin didn’t bet anything this time so all his lost was his pried.

 

Losing his pride, and maybe something more that he did not know of yet, was what happened when he finally manage to find the right place to be, a third into the start of the shift.

 

“Obfonterrier! What do you have to say in defense of showing up late?” the voice of the foreman Raymento boomed as soon as he set his foot in the room.

 

“It’s Obfonteri.” Kraglin muttered flustered under his breath and looked down so he didn’t have to look people in the eye. The whole room was quiet, all of them stopping in their work and staring at him.  

 

“What did you say?” Raymento asked and his voice suddenly felt like a whip snapping in the air.

 

“Nothing, Sir. I just… got lost on my way here, I’m sorry, it won't happen again.” Kraglin hastily said, squirming in place in front of the big man.

 

“Really? You got lost? You got a watch on you, it has a map. Don’t you try that shit with me. You are a lazy rich kid, but it’s time for you to wake up and get into your thick skull that you are a ravager now, and we all have to contribute. You can’t show up whenever it pleases you on this ship. Your actions do have consequences, you can’t skip out of work without punishment. Now, you are new so I won’t throw you in the brig this time, but consider all your privilege revoked and you won’t get paid, at all, for your work today.” Raymento hissed at him.

 

“What?!” But it was just an hour or so, why are you deducting all my pay? Can’t I just work an hour later to make up for it?” Kraglin whined while discreetly drying of the spit that had landed on him when the foreman spoke.

 

“Oh, you will. But that means I have to stay here and watch your sorry ass for another hour, taking time of MY free time. And I want to make it very clear to you right away that this ship runs like a clockwork, we can’t have people doing their shift whenever it pleases them. There are a lot of people here and not showing up on time will mess up the shift schedule,  and that in turn will mess up everything, including security on this ship. So now, fancy boy, why don’t you march your bony ass over there and start your shift? Raymento lambasted Kraglin hard and pointed him over to a corner of the room.  
  
Kraglin gritted his teeth but didn’t say anything more. He just walked over to where he foreman had pointed and tried to ignore the laughter and sneers around the room.

 

Kraglin worked hard for the whole shift, partly because he felt bad about not being able to even find the right room and because Raymento was hanging over him the whole time, nitpicking on everything he did.

When he was finally released, more than an hour later than the other, totally unfair, his arms was so tired that he did not know how he would manage to do the next shift, which would begin very soon. He half jogged down the corridor to get to the mess hall, he needed to get something into himself, all the hard work had made him hungry and he could feel the parasite starting up.  
When he got to the mess hall it was emptying out, the last stranglers was leaving to get to their shifts. Stressed he blipped his ID, he could take to box with him and eat on on the way back.

However, nothing happened when he touched the pad with his electrocard. Panicked he tried it again, and again, but nothing happened.

 

“Hey, kid! You’re too late, the kitchen is closed!” someone shouted at him.

 

He desperate looked up at the entrance, a group of stranglers was standing there, looking back at him and smiling scornfully, some of them even laughing at him.

 

Angrily he shoved his hands down his pockets and tried to walk out of there like it wasn't a big deal. He apparently wasn't making a good show of it since the other was now laughing their asses of. Bitterly he hurried around the corner so they would not see he more, but he still heard them. The foreman had definitely kept him that long on purpose, he apparently wasn't a man you should anger.

 

Since he hadn't eaten he got back to the next shift on time. It did not went unnoticed and of course he had to suffer through several snide remarks about him finding his way this time. Also a few about him not being able to keep up the pace. Kraglin just gritted his teeth and kept his head down, he just had to ride this out, the foreman would soon get tired of him and move on to someone else. He worked as hard as he could, ignoring the headache, dizziness and the nausea of a angry parasite making its presence known. It had to keep itself calm, the last shift was only two hours long, then he could go back and see if the kitchen was open again.

 

***

 

Kraglin woke up of the blaring sound of the general shift alarm. Everyone in this section was starting the same time and this was the last call if you wanted to get to breakfast in time. Since Kraglin did like food, he dragged his ass out of the bed with the others. Some had already gotten up and left, setting their watches for a earlier time. Kraglin prioritized to get as much sleep as possible, he was exhausted from last night.  
The kitchen had been opened when he had tried it again last night right after his last shift. It opens early mostly because of a different shift than kraglin’s needed it to. So technically it was not his time to eat but since his schedule only said “leisuretime/dinner” he was not locked out from eating right away. Which was lucky, he had been hungry and his damn parasite had given him a stomachache. He had gulped his food down, scaling his tongue in the process. He had still been a little bit hungry afterwards and now in the morning he was starving again. That was why it was not good to eat on irregular times , it freaked the parasite out and made it devour everything because a interruption made it think it needed to hoard.

  
When Kraglin had shoved his porridge into his mouth he hurried to the first shift of this cycle. He dreaded it and had a lump in his stomach that was not the parasite’s fault. Luckily, it seems that Raymento had gotten all of his anger out of his system yesterday and he didn’t verbally harass Kraglin anymore. He did make him work hard though, and Kraglin did get the dirtiest of jobs of his team. Someone felt pity for him and told him, after a compressor had accidentally detach itself to early and spewed something unidentified over his shoes, that Raymento always gave the newbie the worst jobs in a process to weed out the ones that didn’t have what it took and also to establish the chain of command, making sure that there would not be any wish thinkers thinking they could weasel their way up the ranks too early.

Kraglin was thankful the person had said that, it made it easier. He was determined to make it, what other chances did he got? He continued to keep his head down and do what he was told.

 

***

Kraglin had always been good at keeping his head down, so the following days was going pass in much the same way, he worked his ass off, ate and slept. He was exhausted but it was sort of comforting to have a routine and knowing there would be food waiting on him every meal, even if it wasn’t as much as he wanted.  
That part would hopefully soon change, because payday was coming up and Kraglin was hoping to spend the money on getting bigger portions. That was his priority right now, always cover the basic needs before you focus on the fun stuff. Even if it would had been really nice to have some time off to do something fun, he had been busting his ass lately. They were coming up on a small planet and most of the crew was going to have the time off and spend their hard earned money. Tullk was talking wistfully about what he would do, some of it made Kraglin blush like the young teen he was, but he still kept listening and absorbing everything, cataloging it for the future. It was an uplifting spirit on the ship when the planet got in sight. The last heist, the one where Kraglin accidentally became part of the crew, had gone well and everybody was now excited to get off and have a relaxing time. Kraglin was very jealous he was not allowed to come. It stung and it sucked.

Not everybody could come, they still needed someone sober enough to drive the ship and other vital parts. And of course Kraglin was part of the team being left behind to take care of things. He was the lowest in the pecking order and he had not yet earned his right to have free time. Which was pity because he would had taken the chance to get of the ship and never come back again if he had it.

Instead, he found himself sulky doing the tasks he was assigned, feeling pity for himself because the other could go out and have fun.

 

“Hey, new guy, stop dragging your feet around and go help loading the goods!” someone shouted and woke him from his pity party. He hastily hurried pass a short angry Krylorian, apparently another foreman for a different team, Raymento was off and having fun, and headed to the hangar.

 

He knew that some had departed earlier to go buy some stock and they were now back apparently. He reluctantly appeared at the open ramp where a small cargo wagon was approaching to dock with the ship. It was loaded with several large boxes. Everyone expertly went around doing shit and Kraglin didn’t really know what he was suppose to do, he wasn’t exactly in the mood to do something either. Suddenly he felt something smack into the back of his head and he nearly toppled over from the unexpected force.

 

“Hey, rich brat, don’t go falling down through the ramp's force field, it only keeps the oxygen inside, it won't hold you.” Yondu said cheerfully, catching Kraglin’s shoulder so he would not fall.

 

Kraglin looked at the blue asshole with a passionate stare that only said “fuck you” while he rubbed his smarting head.

  
“Aww, look, it got angry.” Yondu said to himself and squeezed Kraglin’s cheeks together to distort his frown. “Are you moping because you didn’t get to come with?”

 

“No, sir.”  
  
“Oh, ‘sir’.” Yondu tittered to himself looking very pleased. “It sure looks like it.” he continued and let go of Kraglin’s face.

 

“Nope.”

 

“A tiny bit jealous all the others having fun?”

 

“Not at all, sir, I’m having the time of my life here.” Kraglin said neutral and stared at a dot just above Yondu's head.

 

“You are full of shit Obfonteri. But I like you, you look funny. Don’t you worry, there will be other times. And it’s soon lunch, we usually get longer ones when we are at port.” Yondu snorted and bumped his muscular shoulder into Kraglin’s scrawny one, needing to catch him again so he did not meet a early death falling through the force field.

 

They went over to the boxes and help start to unload everything and put it on smaller hovering boards to transport it to were it was supposed to go in the ship. This process wasn’t different from the ones Kraglin had seen back at his planet when it was time to load the mined materials for transportation off planet. He was following Yondu close behind too and he gave him small discreet hints on what he was supposed to do. The centaurian was also expert on doing as little as possible and still get away with it so Kraglin didn’t mind hanging around with him at all.

 

“Sir?” Kraglin asked after a while when they had been walking towards the storage room.

 

“Huh?”

 

“I thought you would be on the planet, you was on the heist and I heard the ones that was had priority to get off ship?” Kraglin asked curious.

 

“Ha! I had, but I pissed off Stakar again so he revoked my chance.” Yondu answered like it was the most funny thing in the world.

 

“Oh…”

 

“Like I said, there will be other times, and this planet isn't as funny, I would had gotten annoyed if it was Contraxia or something like that. But we are a bit far away for that one. The next one we will be close to is Izard, a bit pricey but I don’t want to miss that one, I have to keep Stakar in a good mood so he let me go.”

 

“Wouldn't it be easier to just always keep him in a good mood, sir?” Kraglin argued.

 

“Sure, but not half as fun.” Yondu answered mischievously.

 

***

 

Kraglin spent most of his day with Yondu. He was a very interesting person. He seemed very down to earth for being so high ranked. Kraglin at least thought he was higher ranked, he seemed to be the captains hated favorite and be best friend with Martinex the firstmate. He also talked a lot about Aleta, which Kraglin had come to understand was the captain's… wife? ex-wife? He wasn't sure, but she was another captain in the ravager fleet at least and she sounded badass. Yondu was telling all kinds of stories about her on their way to the mess hall.  
It was good that the stories was interesting, because the food wasn't, Kraglin got something that looked suspiciously like the porridge they got for breakfast. He was hungry though so he started to eat it without complaining.

Yondu plonked down next to him, with was really nice, Kraglin would had thought he would want to sit down with someone else at lunch, get an opportunity to ditch Kraglin and hang out with his friends instead.

 

“Boy, I’m hungry today. I have been training a lot lately, both the last one and the upcoming mission is big and I need to keep my physical stamina on top, I have been sloppy and too comfortable lately. Maybe I should put some of my money on getting increased food, I just have the base level right now, nothing added. Wouldn't hurt to get some more protein.” Yondu prattled on, more to himself than Kraglin.

 

Kraglin was too busy staring at the very nice big steak Yondu had on his plate anyway. Yondu was cutting into it with his knife, perfectly pink was exposed and juices was running out from it, some landed on Yondu's cheek when he put it in his mouth. He chewed it slowly, Kraglin could practically hear it fall apart on its own in his mouth, perfectly cooked. Yondu put his fork through a potato, dragged it around the sauce and caught a green and crisply cooked vegetable on the way. He leisurely put it in his mouth without a care in the world, totally unaware about Kraglin’s hungry stares. Kraglin swallowed the saliva building in his mouth and focused on his own food again, he tried to clatter with his utensils more than usual so Yondu would not hear his stomach rumble, and maybe if someone listened enough the silent scream of a jealous parasite. Kraglin really needed to spend his free time to figure out how he could add more food to his diet.

That was why he after lunch sat down in the recreation area to figure out how it all worked. Yondu had left him now, he had gotten invited to something that sounded very boring and stupid. The others hadn't even acknowledged Kraglin’s presence when they had asked if the centaurian wanted to join so... Kraglin was busy anyway. He was right now sitting hunched over his watch, clicking back and forth trying to figure out what to do. He could feel that someone was staring at him and looked up.

 

One from crew was sitting in front of him in the room, looking at his fruitless attempt to get more food. It was one of them species that lived in the 56 region, the cluster with planets that was mostly water. Their faces where sort of shapeless and mushy and their eyes big and dull, slightly far of from each other to comfortably look at them for too long.

 

“Do you have a problem?” the other asked with a hoarse voice.

 

“Ehm… yes?” Kraglin answered tentatively.

 

The other hastily got off from their seat and moved over to Kraglin. They without ceremony plonked themself down next to him, way too close for comfort and put one of their appendages around Kraglin’s watch, plucked it delicately out of his hand with the help of several suction cups.

 

“What do you need to do?” they asked.

 

“Eh, well, I want to have more food added on my daily meals, like steak, steak would be really nice.” Kraglin answered awkward.

 

“Ah, ok, well you just push this buttons and that will take you to this menu and then you just click here and you will get the selection menu. This would be much easier doing on a pad though.”

 

“Yeah, I’m just too tired to get my pad right now.” Kraglin lied. He still hadn’t manage to unlock the thing, being rich meant you had afford with more advanced protection protocols.

 

“Ok, well this is what you can choose from. It automatically shows only the things you have afford with but you can press this here to change for how long you want the extra stuff and this one here to see all items available. Remember that it may vary do to what planet we got our supplies last.”

 

“Oh, ok. So, this was the things I have afford with now if I want it added on every meal? That isn’t much?” Kraglin said disappointed seeing the small list of items, mostly just extra porridge and no steak in sight.

 

“Well, it’s calculated on what you have on your account right now and the lowest expected pay you will receive according to your schedule. If I click here I can see that you only have been onboard for six days and one of those days you did not get paid. You have only been doing ship maintenance and other simple things and that only pays the minimum. You also didn’t bring anything onto the account when you joined. If you have any external savings you can transfer them to the account.” the other continued, pushing several other buttons.

 

“But, what about the last heist? Doesn't the money from it get divided up amongst crew? Kraglin asked miserable. He knew why he didn't get paid that one day, thanks Raymento.

 

“Well yes, everyone get a part, even if the ones participate gets a bit more. But you are registered as a crew after the heist, same day, but still after, and therefore you don’t get any part in it.” the other answered and returned the watch to Kraglin.

 

“Oh… ok…Thanks for the help.” Kraglin said dispirited.

 

“I’m sorry. I can see if I can talk someone into letting you be part of the next heist, then at least you would be getting a bit more than the standard yield.” the other said and looked at Kraglin pitiful.

 

“Really? That would be really nice of you. Thanks!”

 

The other just waved one of their appendages and walked away.

Kraglin resumed his quest of getting more food. For now, he had only afford with more porridge, leaving just a couple of spare change in his account. But it was better than nothing. He still had the things he had stolen from the party, once he got of ship he could sell that and up the food more. So maybe it would work out, it would just take a bit more time to get that steak than Kraglin had expected. Just out of curiosity he looked up what it would cost to have the same meal level Yondu had.  
It was expensive.  
And that was his standard without anything added? Yondu must really be at a higher level.


	4. Oops...

Kraglin wanted to puke. The day of the next heist was here, delayed more than it should had been but still here now, and he was strapped down into the seat of an M-ship that was taking them down to a planet that supposedly held a important artifact they needed for a client. The entry through atmosphere made everything vibrating and shifting the ship, upsetting Kraglin's stomach. He wasn’t use to being in the air. Being in space was different, it was big and dark and had artificial gravity that made it feel like they were on a planet. The M-ship made Kraglin feel like he left some parts of himself behind.

“How are you holding up greeny?” one of the others asked him gleefully when they saw his pale face.

 

“Perfect.” he answered strained. He didn’t want to give them the satisfaction. He maybe wasn't used to it now but give him enough times and he would get as use to it as them. Besides, they were here now, touching down, once on the ground he would be fine.

 

The hatch opened and the ramp lowered. Kraglin didn’t waste anytime and got off right away. Outside he took long gulping breath of fresh air. It was the first ones he had in awhile. He had been onboard Stakar’s ship for 42 days. It had been 42 rough days of hard work and a lot of sneers and comments from others but he felt things was getting better. Raymento did give him less shity tasks and he had started to find more and more people that he wanted to hang out with. He liked Tullk and Yondu, they were nice to him, but they played in a different league and didn’t had any shifts he did had so he didn’t meet them that often. They were with on this mission though, Yondu once again had a big part in leading the operation. Kraglin’s job was mostly to keep himself out of the way and support. His part of the team was not going to be in on the action at all but was meant to stay in the camp they were supposed to build. The terrain and the missions delicacy made it impossible to bring the M-ships to were they needed them. They would be down here for a couple of days so they need to walk to a pre decided area and set up camp. From there they could move their offense while Kraglin’s part of the team held the perimeter and made sure the offense team did not end up in an ambush. Kraglin was nervously fidgeting with the holster to the  gun. He didn’t really know how to use it, Raymento had just said 'aim and pull the trigger', he was clearly angry over the fact that Kraglin got pulled for the mission and was in no mood to help him.

Kraglin suddenly felt a arm wrap around his thin shoulders. He seized up for a moment but then realized that it just was Tullk.

 

“Relax kid, it’s going to go well, don’t you worry.” Tullk muttered to him softly, smiling reassuringly. “You will hardly be doing anything, just walk a bit, set up camp and wait for us to do the heavy lifting.”

 

“Yeah, I know. It’s just you know…” Kraglin muttered awkward, but still warmed at the older mans kindness.

 

“First times, yeah. I will keep an eye on you, so loosen up a little, kid, you feel like a wire.” Tullk joked and gave him a push in the direction of where Yondu was standing.

 

“Hey people, listen up. You all know what you're supposed to be doing so let's get the supplies and head out, the M-ships are leaving in 15 minutes!” Yondu shouted over the crowd.

 

Kraglin went and got the backpack he was suppose to carry, it weighed a ton but he was used to carrying heavy things since he came from a mining society. The other crew did not expect him to just host it up on his back like nothing, he could see their disappointed faces in his peripheral. Tullk gave him a knowing smile, he had seen their long faces too. Kraglin gave him a smile back and they started their expedition.

***

They had been walking for a few hours before they took a break. The mood was lightly and the weather was perfect. Kraglin imagined that this is what it would feel like to be hiking. He help out with getting lunch ready and then they all sat down next to the fire and ate. They talked and joked, Tullk even pulled out a deck of cards. He taught Kraglin how to play some of the more common card games.

 

“Do rich people not play cards? This one is ancient, I thought everyone knew it!” Tullk outburst when Kraglin confessed about his ignorance. To that Kraglin got offended so he showed Tullk how to play one from his homeworld and then proceed to beat him merciless in it.

 

“Hahaha, Tullk, you shouldn't have insulted him, he is as merciless as you are.” Yondu laugh when Kraglin won for the third time in a row.

 

“Ay. Got to say you got a eye for card games kid, with a bit of training, you might be a good successor after me.” Tullk said laughingly and ruffled Kraglin’s hair.

 

It was silly, but Kraglin could not help that his heart beated a bit extra at that, smile pulling his lips of the warmth from the feeling of belonging.

 

“Anyway, fun’s over. Time to pack up” Yondu suddenly said and got up from their little group. Louder to the others around he said “It’s time to make a move on! We are going to make the final distance and from now on we got to be alert. As closer we get the more risk are we at running in to competition. We have already several confirmed parties wanting in on the action but we are going to get there first and we are going to find the artifact first and we will bring it back! Let's head out folks!”

 

There were a collective cheer amongst all of them. Yondu had a way of catching people's attention and motivate them. Kraglin thought he looked really cool when he was standing in front of everyone and talking, like a real leader. But there still was a shift in the mood of the group, their nice little hiking just turned into a serious job and everyone quickly packed up their temporary camp and they were soon heading out.

 

They were walking alongside the foot of a mountain. Kraglin was constantly staring up at it, marveled that nature could be so tall, he was use to rock meaning going deep down in the ground, not up. But he guessed it was a question about perspective, you could say that everything around him when he had been growing up had been tall mountains, they just were underground. The feeling was just different, down underground you always had a roof of soil and stone just above you so you never saw the rocks grandness, but here, in this flat land, a big rock was really striking. He finally pulled his eyes from it, feeling a bit stupid that once he finally was out of the underworld he spent his time looking at different rocks. There wasn't much else to look at here though, it was a barren planet mostly covered in moss, lichens and sparse low growing bushes.  
In his search for something else to look at his eyes fell on the small river they were walking alongside. It ran slowly and didn’t seem to contain much wildlife except for some few insects. The water made Kraglin slightly uncomfortable, it was a lot of it, enough to cover his head if he would stand in it. There hadn’t been much water on his planet, putting aside the deep dark lakes they sometimes found that was full of big things with tentacles, there were not enough water were he use to live for it to be any idea to learn how to swim. So he really hoped they was just following it as a landmark and was not actually planning on jumping in at some point. Because that would be a problem.

However, as the day moved on, they only came uncomfortable close to the water, they never needed to get their feet wet.

 

***

They finally reached their destination. Everybody was a lot more tense now and at the ready. Talking was kept at a low level and eyes was scanning the area constantly. A part of his team was sent out to make sure no one was waiting on them and to create lookout for oncoming trouble. Kraglin was fortunately in the other half of the group, someone more than him did not trust his skills with a gun. It wasn't his fault, guns were not allowed on his planet except for the supervisors on the surface. If anyone was caught with a homemade gun they were executed on the spot alongside their loved ones and everyone that was thought having any connection to the maker of the gun. A gun meant rebels, it was a act of treason against the corporate to have a gun because the sole reason for it could only be that you would revolt against the system. Knifes on the other hand, those Kraglin knew well. Especially small ones that you could hid from spying eyes in sleeves, boots or some other more creative places. That’s why you would found the best knife thrower  in the galaxy, according to Kraglin, on his planet. Kraglin was pretty decent with a knife if he could say so himself.

“Hey, stop daydreaming and get a move on.” Someone suddenly hissed in his ear and grabbed his arm to move him to were the others was setting up camp.

Kraglin stumbled with and tried to keep up. He was given some parts of something and he was dumbly staring at them before someone decided to show him what to do with them. The were making a makeshift camp, weather reports had foretold rain during the night so they did not want to sleep under the bare sky. Yondu’s team had already departed into the gigantic temple that just randomly happen to be placed out here. According to the others, it wasn't that random, the location was rich with a special mineral, in fact the whole temple was built out of it. This mineral was special because it messed up all the electronics that got to close, so maybe some sort of magnetic mineral Kraglin thought. It wasn't that they were here for, it was just a fact that made the operation take time because they could not swoop in with M-ships and be out in a minute, and the searching for the artifact had to be done manually, that is, with your eyes and not with scanners. Somewhere in the temple however, was an old artifact from a now dead civilization that a collector wanted badly enough to hire a gang of ravagers. The problem was that their client wasn't the only one wanting it. Ravagers did have a lot of firing power though and now when Kraglin was on their side he was happy about that. A part from the trained people around him with big guns they also had the ship in orbit watching out for them.

 

So now all they had to do was make camp, watch the perimeter and wait for Yondu’s team to find the thing, easy.

  
Half a day later Kraglin was bored to death because nothing happened. He tried to take a nap but the camps team leader had caught him and barked at him for being lazy and had put him in tedious pointless tasks. Right now he was helping out with dinner, which sucked because Kraglin was really hungry but when he tried to sneak a small taste sample he had gotten his hand smacked. Yondu’s team would be back any minute now and Kraglin didn’t think they manage to find the artifact. That meant they would be eating, going to bed and then start back up again tomorrow. Which meant Kraglin would spend tomorrow staring out into the barren lands again. Yay.

 

“They are back!” someone suddenly said and Kraglin was woken from his pity party.

 

He looked up at the disheartened group of people coming out of the temple, a bit dusty but at least all alive and well.

 

“We didn’t see it, but we think we know were it is.” Yondu said when they arrived at the camp.

“The ones that made this place blocked it off before they left and we can’t find the way inside what we think was the entrance. We are trying to find another way but if we can't find anyone by luck tomorrow we'll have to force our way in. Unfortunately for us only mechanical drills work out here and explosions are too loud and attracts to much attention. Have we gotten any connection with the ship?” Yondu said as they sat down to eat.

 

“Static is a nightmare, but we think we could pick out that they were saying that they spotted two other teams landing on the other side of the planet. So we will soon be getting competition but them needing to land on the other side to avoid Stakar bought us time.” the camps team leader filled in.

 

“They will probably try to fly as far as possible, that will make them less than a day away from us. However, the temples location is not know to more than to us, our informants made sure of that, our rivals will need to find this place too, buying us time” Tullk added contemplating.

 

“Time is still not our friend here. But we are too tired to continue tonight, we will have to rest and continue tomorrow. Hopefully we are more lucky then.” Yondu decided.

 

The discussion that followed after that was mostly logistic and missions details and stuff like that that would be interesting if Kraglin was more known to the slang. Besides, he had to help prep Yondu’s team for them morning so they could leave right away. It was a bit nerve racking to know that there were others coming their way, he had hoped it was just to saunter in, grab the artifact and walk out, back and home in your own bed in no time.

He was staring at the tent fabric, trying to fall asleep. But it was hard, he kept thinking he heard footsteps of the oncoming competitors. He hadn’t slept in a tent before, it was sort of cozy but still made him feel naked, all that separates him from all around him was just a thin layer of fabric. He was thinking of sneaking off in the night, take his chance of getting away. But this was a abandon planet with no means off getting off and enemies soon upon them. What if he took of in the night and ran into them? What if he fell down in the river because he could not see in the dark? To be fair, the last one wasn't really a problem. With no lights interfering with his night vision the night sky illuminated the world enough for him to see pretty good, maybe not as good as day but still good enough not to fall into the river. This was the thoughts he fell asleep to, more exhausted than he had noticed.

 

***

 

He woke up because someone was kicking him.

 

“What?” he asked tiredly.

 

“Come see, rich brat, you would do well to get some nature's miracle experience.” Yondu’s mirthful voice was heard somewhere above him.

 

“Oh no, go away.” Kraglin moaned and pulled the sleeping bag over his head.

 

Suddenly something strong grabbed his feet and resolutely started to drag him out of the tent, with sleeping bag and all. Kraglin just manage to silence his surprised sound so he did not wake the others with a panicked shriek. Yondu continued to drag him until all of him was outside the tent.

 

“Come on larva, get up, come see.” the blue asshole said.

 

Kraglin sigh heavily and then crawled out of his warm comfort zone.

 

“What is it you wanted to show me, sir?” Kraglin asked with a dead voice, he did not enjoy this.

 

Yondu just resolutely grabbed a hold of his face and turned him in the direction of the temple. The sun had just been coming up and the sunrays was hitting the temples walls. The special mineral was glittering like a giant jewel in the middle of the barren land. Kraglin was staring at it mesmerized, it was so beautiful.

 

“Do you see? It looks like a big twinkling diamond. It only does that when the sun hits the stone in the right angle, probably because of how the stone is carved in different angles. I ain’t much for religious people, my planet had it in heaps and that help them a fuck ton of nothing, but I gotta say they usually are some of the best architects.” Yondu said dreamily.

 

“Do you think the others out there will see it because of that, sir?” Kraglin asked after a while.

 

“The temple? Maybe? But then they have to be up right now, look in the right direction and be in the right angle, the mountains cover most of the temple, it's too short, and we know they are coming from a angle behind so I don’t think they will be able to see it like it is now.”

 

They were just standing there quiet after that, next to each other, staring at the glittering temple. Kraglin was freezing though, being forced out in the morning cold with nothing then the clothes he slept in and no shoes. Yondu got tired of his clattering teeth and put the dropped sleeping bag around his shaking shoulders. Then they stood there for a while longer, long enough for the sun to move and no longer light the temple in the right way. The could here the other wake up and that broke the trance they were in.

 

“Let's get back, my team should move out soon if we want to find the thing before anyone else does.”  
  
Kraglin just followed him back without a word.

 

***

 

And he was back to waiting.

This sucked. He had thought missions was more action, the first one he was on had definitely been it. And if they other found the temple there would be he guessed. But as long as the others was wondering around blindly on the planet they had time. Stakar had been smart, he had put his ship far enough from the planet to not easily be able to see it, and hence, to use it as a landmark to gauge there position. Maybe if you was a good star reader you could tell at night that the twinkling light on the sky was not a star but the light on the left wing? Kraglin could not read stars at all so he did not know, he had only been able to see them for a year or so.

Staying in the camp meant people saw him slacking and put him on boring tasks so he had saunter off in the direction right to the temple to be out of sight from team leaders and foremen. He was studying the nature around here, it was interesting, at first glance everything seemed empty but if you looked closer there were a lot of small plants and lichens in different shapes and colors. He could see small insects all over, he was following one to see where it were heading when something suddenly caught his foot and he very ungracefully fell like a cut tree. He barely had time to get his arms up to protect his face from smacking into the ground. He sat up and looked at his hand, scuffed but not enough to bleed. Annoyed, he looked around to see the source of why he had fallen. There were something in the ground. A handle? Maybe something dropped a long time ago? Kraglin crawled closer to it to inspect what it was. It was a handle, but the rest of it was going down the ground. Maybe the nature overtime had covered it? This was much more interesting than some bugs so Kraglin immediately started to investigate it. The design looked to be the same like the temple, so maybe the one that build it dropped this? Kraglin tried to pull it, but it felt  stuck. Maybe it was connected to something bigger buried underneath the earth?It did look like it went down and it was a while since this place had been left, it was possible. It would be pretty cool of it was connected to a machine or something, use to build the temple. Maybe they had figured out how to make machines that was not affected by the mineral?

He put both of his legs next to it, and pulled with all his might, leaning backwards so his head nearly touching the ground. He felt it loosen, but it didn’t so with a slurping earthy sound that could be expected from something that was buried in dirt, it did so with a nice clicking sound, like it was meant to be pulled all along. Kraglin had just time to start to feel a icy dreading feeling in his stomach before a deafening rumble was heard.  
  
Panicked he looked up at the temple. He could feel the ground shaking under him, the temple was moving, the top of the temple was rising high and folding backwards, spreading out. The thing at the top that had looked like a stick now looked like a plate, catching and glittering in the sunlight. A thought went through his head, that shit, that loud sound must have been heard for miles away and just when everybody was looking around for the source, look and behold, a big glittering thing to point out what it was. Kraglin realize that he had just turned the temple into a gigantic beacon for everyone to see.

 


	5. I'm too scared to scream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter goes on forever...

Kraglin was staring numb at the temple. His intestines had sunken down to his feet and in his stomach was claws of dread and guilt gripping the empty space were his insides use to be.The claws was simultaneously imploding and expanding. It felt like the ground had disappeared and he was in that first free falling seconds were your body expects to find ground but doesn't. There was a roar in his head that overtook all the other sounds around him. Nothing of his surroundings was left, it turned to a blurry mass and all he could see was the temple, and what he had done. There were people running out of the temple, distantly his brain registered it as Yondu and his team, they probably wondered what that sound had been, it must have been deafening inside the temple.

His gaze moved to the others standing in the camp. They were all looking over at him. He couldn't see their eye from this distance, but he could feel them, their hatred and anger was searing his skin. Somehow he managed to start walking towards them, every step felt like he was on a planet with ten times the gravity. He wanted to turn and run, run as far he could and never look back. They would probably shoot him if he did. They would probably shoot him anyway.  
The trip back took forever, years of years of years as the camp slowly grew bigger and he more clearly could see the anger in people's eyes. There weren’t that many still staring at him, instead there was a lot of activity, they were packing down the camp he realized. Did he fuck up that bad that there were no point staying and trying to salvage the mission? Kraglin swallowed, but his mouth was so dry he more ended up choking himself than anything. He didn’t see Yondu and the others around anymore.

He finally reached the edge of the camp, he stopped in front of the team leader, who had been standing still and watching him approach the whole time. The air was crackling with energy and he did the mistake of lifting his eyes for a second to look at the person in front of him.

 

“ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!!!” they scream and grabbed Kraglin’s shoulders roughly.

 

They shook him wildly, Kraglin’s head flipped back and forth without him being able to stop it, the person's nails was digging into his arms and it hurt. Suddenly there was a blow, Kraglin wasn't ready for it, it hit his left side and made his face feel like it exploded. His head was thrown to the right but the teamleader was holding him to hard for him to fall to the ground. Groggy he tried to orient himself when a strong hand grabbed his face and made him look up into a vortex of hatred.

 

“Are you aware that that stunt of yours just costed us the mission? We will soon be surrounded by vultures that now know where the price is. Weeks of planning, a ship to keep running and men hungry for payout and all of that lost in a second? HOW?! HOW did you even managed to do that?!” the words was hissed in Kraglin’s face, close enough for him to feel the spit landing on him.

There was a blow to his right shoulder.

 

“I don’t know sir, I’m sorry, I just found a lever.” Kraglin mumbled.

 

“AND YOU PULLED IT?!!”

 

There were another hit and then a knee in his stomach, he could no longer breath, or focus on something more than on the pain.

After a while he became aware that he was laying on the ground, abandon after a kick to his face that split his lip. He painfully got up in sitting position, looking around to evaluate the situation. The whole camp was bustling with energy, everybody was packing it together in record speed. He painfully stood up, he really hoped he hadn’t broken any ribs. Yondu’s team was still missing, had they gone back into the temple? Kraglin decided to focus on what he was doing instead. He wasn't dead so that meant he got to help taking apart the camp, to at least make some amends to what he had done.

The team that had split out and had been watching the perimeter came back running, Kraglin first got panicked because he thought that meant they were under attack and it was all his fault. But they were just there to check out what had just happened with the temple and what was going on. He could see the teamleader point at him and all of the new arrivals stared at him like they wanted to murder him. Yep, now they were informed on what had happened.

 

He hastily turned around and started to put things in backpacks. It was beginning to be hard to see, his eye was starting to swell up and several of his body parts hurt. But he just gritted his teeth and carried on, he would get no sympathy here. He wasn't dead yet, and that meant there were maybe a way out of this mess as long as he kept his head down and did shit right for once. He gave the fully packed backpack to someone else, they angrily snatched it from him and walked out of there without a word. Life would be so fun back at the ship from now on, if they made it back that is.

 

Suddenly there was a cheer. What was the least Kraglin was expected to hear right now. He looked up, and saw Yondu coming out of the temple, holding the artifact above his head. Suddenly all the other rushed to him, screaming in joy and celebrating their success. Kraglin kept his distance and continued packing up the last things. He felt relieved that it had been found, that meant he had done a less of a fuck up than he first thought. He still probably would not be forgiven. He turned his back to a happy Yondu, thriving like the fish in the sea at all the attention, looking bad ass as usual. Kraglin wished he was like him. Instead he continued with his task of taking down the camp. After a while the mob was coming back and he suddenly felt a hand at his back that made him flinch badly enough to drop what he was holding.

 

“Whoa, relax boy, it’s just me.” Tullk’s voice said.

 

“Sorry, just didn’t hear you coming in the commotion.” Kraglin answered and smiled sheepishly over his shoulder.

 

“What happened to your face?” Tullk asked and immediately switch over to concerned. He gently spun Kraglin around so he could look at him. Kraglin looked away embarrassed, he did not need anyone being worried for him right now, that would only piss of the others more.

 

“It’s nothing, I just tripped over a rock.” he muttered and backed away from Tullk.

 

“That’s bullshit, someone hit you in the face. Who did that?” Tullk said angrily.

 

“The teamleader did, asshole deserved it, he jeopardize the whole mission with that damn stunt of his.” a big guy that walked passed answered.

 

“The ones leaving the artifact behind did seam to once had had a plan of wanting to be able to retrieve it, that stunt he pulled was what opened the door we had been trying to get up for almost a day.” Tullk defended Kraglin.

 

“We could have gotten the same result with explosives, the whole reason we did not was because it would attract unwanted attention. We are still a long way from were the M-ships can pick us up and now the competition know where to look thanks to that nice beacon the idiot turned the temple into.” the big guy said and pointed a gnarly dark green finger accusingly at the temple.

 

Tullk hadn’t anything good to counter with so the guy walked of with a snort.

 

“You really fucked up badly.” Tullk said with pity.

 

“Yeah, I’m kinda good at that. I’m suffering from unevenly distributed luck, and today I’m in a phase were all my good luck have run out and it’s time for the bad luck to catch up.” Kraglin explained.

 

“Oh? Sounds annoying.”

 

“It is.

 

***

They kept a nightmarish pace while walking back to where the M-ships would be able to land. The way back where shorter than it had been to get to the temple because now they were willing to risk things. The plan was to get a hold of the other ravagers as soon as they were far out that they could get a connection. After they got a connection they would tell them what happen (great) so they could send down M-ships right away, and drive them to just the edge of where they started to malfunction. This would shorten the trip they had to take because when they had landed they had done so on a safe distance. Now haste was more important, especially since they had the goods.

 

They had already walked for several hours and Kraglin was exhausted and hungry. He did not dare to say a beep though, everyone was tensely watching their surrounding for any hostile activity. He just had to ignore the dizziness, the pain in this body after getting beaten and the irritated grumbles from the parasite. He stumbled on rocks and other things constantly, but whenever he started to slack he had a rifle pushing into his back. He was amongst the ones at the back of the group, and the rifles was for if there was a ambush, but the ones carrying them did not seem to bother about that detail too much. Kraglin pursed his mouth when he felt the gunbarrel in his back again, adjusted the straps of his backpack and continued to walk.

 

All of a sudden they had contact with the ship. Kraglin was too far back to hear what was being said properly but the picked up words like ‘M-ship’ and ‘now’. There was a collective sigh going through the whole group afterwards. At least they now had manage to get there message out and the M-ships would get as close to them as possible. Now they just had to focus on walking as fast as they could.

 

***

When they reached the place were they had paused on the way in Kraglin felt relieved because now they weren’t that far away from were the M-ships would be able to pick them up. His parasite did not get happy about that them arriving at the place did not meant they stopped and got food. Kraglin had been hoping for at least a short break but no one from the crew even gave away the smallest hints that they wanted to stop. So he followed their lead and continued walking past it.

 

***

 

It wasn't long after they past the place where they had rested when a sharp thrill was heard and Yondu released his arrow.  
  
That was followed by orders being shouted and safety mechanism on guns being disable. Kraglin snapped his head after the red glowing tail from the arrow and saw several people coming towards them. He just manage to duck a plasma bolt coming his way and nearly got trampled when someone on his side pulled forward to deal with the issue. Kraglin backed up and pulled out his own, now seemingly tiny, gun. He fiddled with his safety while trying to keep an eye on the chaos around him. He caught Tullk’s laugh in the air just before he blew the face of an oncoming A'askvarii. Finally figuring out the gun Kraglin aimed it at a Deonists with their focus on Yondu. Kraglin missed spectacular. It was in fact so far to the right of were he had been aiming that it accidentally hit the first person of a new group of attackers that was approaching them.

 

“Nice!” someone said to him in passing while firing up their own, enormous, gun to get rid of the newcomers.

 

Kraglin didn’t tell them he had done that by mistake.  
  
He could hear Yondu giving orders over the chaos between his whistles. Most of it was not aimed at him, or too technical for him to get, but he did catch that they would move out to get a better advantage point. He tried to keep up the pace with the others willed they moved. His heart was beating fast and his head swivels from every direction to see all potential threats. Yondu was good at what he was doing, killing things, but also leading them.They all had flow and worked well and Kraglin managed to keep himself out of the way to not interfere with the teamwork. His brain constantly wanted to go into panic mode but he didn’t have time with that so he pressed on. The slamering of the battled died down an Kraglin realized that they manage to deal with the two first waves of fortune seekers, they were all dead. But there were no time for celebrating, they had spotted another group heading their way and now started a mad dash to keep the distance to the competitors. They were tired from the day however, and slowly they were gained opon. The first plasma bolts started to fly over their heads and Kraglin really just wanted to sit down and cry because fuck, this shit was so damn scary, he didn’t know what to do. He was jogging with the others and all he could think about was that he any moment now he would feel a sting in his back when he got hit.

 

“Get weapons ready! We stop and face them in three... two...one!” Yondu shouted and then suddenly everybody stopped and turned.  
  
For a long time, it seemed, they all just fired madly at the oncoming people. Kraglin had wisely enough thrown himself at the ground at the command. Used and searing hot cartridges landed around him when the crew reloaded the ammunition. Kraglin could see person after person fall in the other group. He looked on in horror while the world around him flashed with deadly shots. But he managed to see them, the more coming their way, armed and ready. Did it never end? Were there a whole army waiting on them on the other side of that rock formation they were coming from? Would they make it against so many?

 

Suddenly there were an wind knocking them from behind and the earth flew in the air when big plasma bolts landed right in the biggest group of attackers. Kraglin quickly turned and was faced with three M-ships. They were here!  
He wanted to jump around in joy but there were still enemies around them shooting at them, even if the M-ships were doing their best to dwindle  that number.

 

“Come on, move on, get into those M-ships!” Yondu shouted over the commotion and then had his arrow flying through two more Deonists.

 

Kraglin didn’t need to be told twice. He bolted to the ship that was closest and ran up the ramp before it was completely lowered.

 

“Are you okay?” one of the M-ships crew asked him and he just tiredly nodded while he threw off the backpack and sloppy fastened it around the interior of the M-ship.  
  
“Get strapped in, we are dangerously close to the temple, the engines can die at any moment.” the person continued and pointed Kraglin to where he was supposed to sit.

 

More from the team outside was coming in, fastening their backpack and then themselves. The engine was sputtering and the ship time to time dipped in altitude when they temporarily lost power. Kraglin was hugging his belt with a white knuckled grip through it all. He tried to focus on a dot on the other side of the ship, not on the sound of plasma bolts now hitting the hull.

 

“Last one, take us out!”

 

Their takeoff was fast, not smooth and Kraglin mostly just wanted to scream in horror but then he needed to open his mouth and he wasn't able to move a muscle right now.

 

They didn’t fly directly up, they were following the ground close and moving in the direction they first had landed, away from the temple. The scary reason for that was that if the engine did die, it would be a less of a deadly fall from the sky if they were closer to the ground.

The good thing was that M-ships are much faster than walking and they soon reach the safe area and turned upwards towards the ship waiting in orbit.

 

Kraglin could feel a small, very small, hint of relief when people around him started to cheer. They made it, they pulled the mission off and they got of the planet all alive. The knowledge registered more properly in Kraglin and he realized that it really was over. All his muscles relaxed at once and he sank into his harness like a limp doll, exhausted to the very fiber of his bones.

 

The M-ship docked and wobbly he got out of it. Stakar Ogord and Martinex T'Naga was waiting for them in the hangar and Yondu walked up to them with the prize held high and loud cheers from the crew. He looked very pleased with himself. Kraglin could not help smiling when he helped unload the backpacks and put things away. He wanted nothing more than to throw himself in his bed right now, maybe eat, definitely eat first according to the parasite, but he wasn't sure what was expected after a mission and also what would happen to him. It did not go him unnoticed that the team leader was talking to T'Naga and they both looked over at him. Shit.

Kraglin hastily looked down and continued pack away mission gear. He pretended he hadn’t seen that, that he didn’t know that T'Naga would come to him when the celebration of a successful mission had moved on to a different deck. But he was tightly waiting the whole time, shaking badly enough to make it hard to put things away. He still was taken of guard when T'Naga finally came up to him.

 

“Obfonteri is it? Can I have a word with you?” Martinex asked him, voice smooth and soft and nothing like Kraglin had expected it to sound.

 

“Yes sir, of course sir.” Kraglin answered, thankful that the Pluvian did not give away any indication that he had seen him flinch.

 

They walked over to another M-ship, Kraglin assumed that it was the first mate’s, and went into it. Kraglin’s legs was heavy as lead and felt simultaneously like spaghetti. He low key wondered if T'Naga took him aside to murder him. He had to force himself to follow the sparkling figure in front of him anyway because there were no alternatives.

 

“Please sit down.” Martinex said and pointed at a small table with a few swivel chairs around it.

 

Kraglin hesitantly sat down as far out on one of the chairs as he could. He swallowed loudly when Martinex sat down in front of him. This was okay, he wasn't dead, they wasn't dragging him away to a airlock to throw him out, this was going okay.

 

T'Naga looked at him concerned. Why was that worse?

 

“I heard you nearly cost us the mission. What I have been told your action put the entire time at risk.” Martinex calmly said.

 

Kraglin swallowed hard.

 

“I’m sorry.” he whispered after a few seconds and painfully squeezed his knees. He was unable to look the first mate in the eye.

 

“Would you care to explain why this things have been said about you?” Martinex asked.

 

“I… I was bored of waiting on Yon… Udonta’s team… so I walked around a bit and explored. I found a lever, I swear I thought it was a old broken off handle or to a machine that had been buried under the dirt, I had no idea it would turn the temple into a beacon!” Kraglin said shakily. “And, well… I pulled it.”

 

“And?”

 

“Eh.. well, it turned out to open the door to the artifact but also make a lot of loud noise and shift the temple to catch the sun so everybody could see. I didn’t mean for it to happen sir, I’m very sorry.” Kraglin mumbled.

 

Martinex sigh deep and rubbed his eyes, Kraglin could hear the smallest of plinking sounds when the first mates fingers bumped into the rest of his face. Kraglin thought it was funny and really bizarre, he sort of wanted to laugh at it. But he held the laughter down with iron will, not doubting it would come out as hysteric.

 

“Obfonteri, what we do is not free from hazards, we mostly risk our lives everyday in this line of work. That's why it’s fun and pays well. Since it is already risky, it’s very unnecessary to add even more risk to it, you know. It was very irresponsible of you to wonder off on your own, it’s not a field trip, it’s a job. But in my opinion the chances of the things happening the way they did because of your actions is astronomically small, so I don’t really feel for punishing you to hard for turning the temple into a beacon, especially since it in fact did help us retrieve the artifact faster and no one on our side died. But then again it’s the same principle as if you would had found a big red button, some things you don’t mess with. So you probably should not  pull any more leverages in the future before some give you orders to do it. Especially with your kind of shity luck.” Martinex said and gave him a hint of smile in the end.  
  
Kraglin just swallowed dryly and felt like shit.

 

“I won't put you in the brig, you didn’t technically break any orders or hindered the mission. What I want to punish you for is your recklessness so that you in the future become more aware of dangers and think one step ahead before you do something. That's why I have decided that you won't get paid for this mission and you forfeit the longer leave session for the next time we are at port, you will have to work one of the skeleton crew shifts. But aside from that, I won't punish you further because you are still new to this.” Martinex sentenced.

 

Kraglin felt relieved, he had been worried he would get sentenced to death or something. It still sucked that he would not get payed for this, but he pushed that feeling away for later when he was alone and had time to feel jealous on all the things the others could buy with their units.

 

“Thank you sir, I’m glad that you are so forgiving in your judgement of my future.”

 

“Ugh, don’t sound so stiff kid, we all fuck up sometime, the important thing is to acknowledge our mistake and learn from it.” the first mate said and got up from his seat.  
  
Kraglin hastily followed and they walked out of the M-ship. Kraglin was thankful that he had been given the discretion, that action showed a lot why T'Naga was a good first mate.

 

“Keep helping put things away and look the gear over. After that you can go to bed, I’m guessing you’re pretty beat.”

 

“I’m sharing my bed with two others so my bed is occupied for a while more unfortunate. I don’t really know how it’s supposed to work after I’m back on a mission, they mess up the shift schedule?”

 

“Huh? Two more? Right, right, the slight logistic problem we are having right now… Ah, yes, I forgot for a moment we had to solve it like that in the lower levels... I keep telling Stakar that we can’t take on any more crew before he have decided on schematics of the new addon to the ship and we finally get to build it and he promises me we won't and but then the next rowdy mismatch shows up and give him puppy eyes and here we are with a ship that has reached its capacity.” Martinex complained lightly. “But you don’t have to worry about the shift schedule, the idea is that crew back from missions have free time until it’s suitable to go on a shift and then the scheduled carries on as usual. During the free time you can do what you want just like any other free time. Most eat and sleep after a mission though.”

 

“Oh, okay… Well… I have five hours then before I can have my bed back...and then it looks like that I’m supposed to go on my shifts after my sleep... ” Kraglin muttered to himself clicking around on his watch.

 

“You’ll sort it out eventually, try not to get in trouble in the meantime.” Martinex said and waved him off to go to more important matter.

 

Kraglin frowned after him when he was out of sight. He was mad at himself for being so stupid. Why did he always had to fuck things up? The first mate had been very nice which had made it feel even worse, he felt guilty for messing the mission up. He started to walk over to were the others were. He was in a sourer mood. He didn’t plan on staying here, as soon as it was safe enough he would leave, but he really didn’t like disappointing people, that’s why he never made promises, then he could not break them and make people disappointed. He hefted a backpack up and put it on the hover loading platform. His body felt like it would break by now, he was exhausted. Five hours left before he could go to bed? That sucked, he wished his bed was free now because he just wanted to throw himself in fluffy blankets, hug a soft pillow and sink down deep in the mattress. Even though, if he was honest, his pillow was lumpy, the blankets itchy and the bed hard. He had had worse.

Mostly he really just didn’t like sharing his space with the others. He wasn't use to it, he had never had any siblings, his parents hadn't been able to support it and they had died young. He didn’t mined sleeping with others, it was nice to snuggle, but the fact that he had a selected time where he was allowed to sleep and was expected to be out of there when the next arrived was sort off rough. Back on his planet things had been more free. Then again, he had to remind himself, he did leave for a reason. He had had more freedom because he hadn’t had a job or anything else to do. Everything had good and bad sides. Kraglin just had to stick out enough to get to the good part. That or find a way to leave. Stealing a M-ship was out of the question for now, at least until someone was dumb enough to show him how to fly one.

 

He continued to work on until everything was done a couple of hours later. He was more exhausted then he had ever been. Since the parasite long had started to do revolt he quickly went to the mess hall and got himself a nice hot meal, even if he had wanted it to be bigger. After that he had been sulking around his dormitory, watching his bed until his bed mate finally decided it was time for him to eat breakfast. The blanket had hardly any time to fall back down before Kraglin was lying under it. It was warm and cozy, a bit smelly but still heavens to Kraglin's tired body. He didn’t fall asleep right away though, too many thought in his head that needed to be sorted first.

 

The most dominant one of them was that he couldn’t help to feel that everything sucked right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Martinex is totally trying to be the professional first mate here but we all know he used the word "dope" in the movie and that says a lot about him


	6. You need a new tailor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New warning: Underage drinking - because why have a fake ID if you’re not going to use it?

T'Naga had said he would not punish him further than deducting his pay, but apparently Raymento and all the others on his team did not agree with him getting away that easily. Rumors had spread and everyone seemed to know that he was a wandering catastrophe. He looked pathetic and harmless, but oh, he apparently could cause the end of the world. For the coming week he had the shittiest of tasks and had to suffer from more taunts and sneers from the others than ever. The bullying was durable, they still thought he was a rich kid and most of the insults involved them telling him that he had to land in reality and stop thinking he could do what he wanted because of all the money he had. Some of the insults was so far off that it was funny and Kraglin had had a hard time keeping his laughs in. He sort of had to because him laughing in their faces usually pissed them off even more, earning him punches instead of rough shoving and tripping legs.

  
Despite it all, Kraglin gritted his teeth as always and carried on, because he was stubborn and wanted to prove a point, the point that despite him looking like nothing, he could climb the ladders and become something. He daydreamed of being captain, so he could boss around his tormentors and have them kiss his feet. But if he was honest with himself, it only was daydreams, captain sounded like to much spotlight for Kraglin’s liking. He more liked to lurk in the shadows, only sticking out his grabby little hands to get the goodies that fell from higher, but never having to put himself out there. First mate maybe? It sure would be nice, the higher ups got much more food and privilege than his base level. Those were plans for if he was staying, which he didn’t intend to… it was just a alternative if he never came across a good planet to stay on.

Because all was not bad on the ship, despite his foreman's best efforts. This place was a great way of learning new things and have cool experience, he was in space after all! The last week he had been giving a few training rounds with guns and physical combat after someone picked up that he was really lousy on it at the mission. That was really nice and handy. Maybe they could teach him to fly an M-ship soon too and he could fly of on his own and wouldn't have to wait for a safe place to get away?  
  
He hadn't mention that he was good with knifes, the ravagers seemed mostly gun focused so they thought that was the most important for him to learn that and he agreed. Maybe he could buy some knives later if they came across a market, he still felt naked without his old ones that he had left on Xandar.

He had also gained a small crowd of people that he liked, people that ignored the others bad talking about him and saw for themselves that he was interesting and a nice guy. One of them was on Kraglin’s team, Keewau. He was a very tall, bulky guy. Kraglin hadn't dared to ask for his species because he was afraid that would be rude. He wasn't familiar with it at least, Keewau had this pale milky eyes that made Kraglin think he also came from underneath the ground but then he also was very dark skinned, bordering to black, that didn’t fit that well with a species that live underground if Kraglin looked to his own pale skin. Kraglin had first taken a notice to him because he had a lot of long hair that he usually kept braided and in the braids had small skeleton skulls of critters he found. Keewau had noticed his interest in his collection of severed heads and had started to talk to him. They both was quiet soft spoken guys and they worked well together.

 

It was Keewau that had pointed out that Kraglin needed a haircut. He still had the stupid rich kid one but over the soon two months his hair had grown out a lot and now it looked even dumber, plus it got in his way all the time. Keewau knew someone with skills enough with a  hair clipper that you didn’t have to worry about losing a ear and now Kraglin was sitting on top of a working bench down in sector 4.

 

“How would you like it?” the, probably, biggest and meanest looking guy from the crew asked while he softly and gently carded through Kraglin's hair.  
  
Kraglin had thought Keewau was big and bulky but this guy made him look like a child and Kraglin like a doll. What haircut did he want? He wasn't  sure, something cool and badass that at least could help him a little bit to assert himself amongst the others. He ransacked his brain for anyone amongst the crew that he thought looked cool. His brain immediately stopped on Yondu. Yes, Yondu was very cool but he didn’t have hair, all he had on his head was the red crystal thing…

 

“Can I have a Mohawk?” he asked out loud after a while.

 

“Sure, don’t see why.” the massive guy said after a moment and shrugged his shoulders, Kraglin could feel the wind change when the guy was moving.

 

Carefully his hair was being cut, clippers held delicately. When he was done, his cut of hair being brushed of with less delicacy and nearly sending him into a wall, Kraglin stepped up to a mirror and looked at himself. It looked cool, he looked badass and he was very pleased. He caught Keewau’s dorky grin in the mirror and he made a rude gesture at him as answer. It was perfectly normal to admire yourself in the mirror after a haircut, he didn’t had to make fun of him for that.

 

“You like it?”

 

“Yes, thank you so much, it looks great.” Kraglin answered the big guy and gave him a genuine smile.

 

“Good. But next time, I want you to pay, not Keewau, I don’t like people taking advantage of the idiots nice side.”

 

“I can decide what I do with my money the way I want, I’m a grown man.” Keewau chimed in with a playful smile.

 

“Yeah, yeah, see you around, both of you.”

 

And with that the big mean looking guy went away to do his business leaving Kraglin alone with Keewau.

 

“You paid for me? Why didn’t you say anything?” Kraglin accused him. He felt embarrassed that somebody had paid for him, and flustered.

 

“As I said, I’m a grown man and can do what I want.” Keewau just said and turned to walk away.

 

Kraglin was not finished with him.

 

“Yeah, okay, but why?” he accusingly asked after walking around Keewau and blocking his way.

 

“It’s payday tomorrow, I had some spare change on me and wanted to use them for something nice. I like being nice to people.” he just answered calmly and shrugged his shoulders.

 

“You are a ravager, you steal shit and murder people all the time.” Kraglin said skeptically.

 

“Well, I’m just selective to whom I’m being nice to then.”

 

“Yes, exactly, so why me?” Kraglin asked lost.

 

“I don’t know. It’s just something about your whole aura that says ‘soft boy’, makes me want to do nice things for you to make you happy.” Keewau said with a smile and moved Kraglin out of the way.

 

“I’m NOT soft!” Kraglin insulted hissed at him. All he got for answer was a bellowing laugh.

 

***

They got paid, Kraglin less so. No part in the share from the mission and two days deduction because he was away and didn’t work with something else during that time. Kraglin was scrolling amongst what food he could add, more things he could chose now then the first time but less than last pay, still not enough for a stake everyday.

 

“Why do you do that on your watch? It’s much easier on a pad.” Keewau interrupted Kraglin’s thoughts.

 

“I haven’t been able to unlock it yet.” Kraglin answered distracted.

 

“What? What do you mean?” Keewau asked confused.

 

Kraglin panicked looked up. Shit, he forgot for a second that he was pretending the pad he had was his own. Shit, shit, shit. What did he say now?

 

“Uh, well… after I had it synced with the ship it locked, stupid security system, and I can’t open it, don’t remember the password.” Kraglin quickly fabricated the lie.

 

“You don’t remember the password? Don’t you have one of them pads rich people have with all the functions? Why don’t you use facial scan, or DNA scan or any of the other things?”

 

“Well, those functions stopped working after the sync, only the password works, which I never use so I have forgotten it.” Kraglin uncomfortable and evasively answered.

 

“Oh. Why didn’t you say something? I can probably crack that thing for you.” Keewau said happily.

 

“Really? That would be great if you can. Do you want to do it now?”

 

“Sure, lets get it.”

 

***

 

“Why do you have platinum toothpicks in your locker?” Keewau asked skeptical and looked at Kraglin like he was weird once they got out of his sleeping quarters.

 

“I just had them in my pockets when I got aboard. Why do everybody think it’s such a big deal about them?” Kraglin asked flustered. Keewau just laugh at him but thankfully did not pressure on.

 

“Okay, give me the pad and I’ll see what I can do.”

 

For the rest of their free time Kraglin was looking at Keewau trying to break the pads security systems. It was harder than he first had thought, the person who had owned it before had made sure to get the one with advanced security system.

 

“Yes! Finally, I’m in!” Keewau shouted after a long while. “This was a stubborn bastard.” he added and laughs while he started to click around in the now open system.

 

“Who is this guy you have so many pictures of? You even have him as your wallpaper.” Keewau asked curious after a while.

 

“Hey, my pictures are private! He’s just a friend.” Kraglin feigned offended and lied quickly.

 

“Oh, sorry.”

 

Kraglin felt bad for coming off so aggressive after Keewau helped him, but Kraglin’s whole lie could crumbled and he could not put Keewau hurt feeling before his own survival.

 

“Oh, hey, look, you got a message from Miss Plymm, she have time for you to come and have your measurements taken for your leather.” Keewau suddenly said after awkwardly scrolling through the pad some more.

 

“Oh, really?” Kraglin excited got up and looked over Keewau shoulder. It would be really nice to get a cool leather jumpsuit that fitted him and not have to walk around in the oversized generic not-at-all-leather jumpsuit he was wearing right now. New haircut and clothes would certainly not be of disadvantage to his position on this ship.

 

“We could go to her tomorrow, we should have time before we reach the next planet.”

 

***

 

Miss Plymm was set up in a part of the ship that Kraglin hadn’t been to yet. Mostly because it was the higher ups quarters. Keewau walked down the corridor like he always did, with a calm sertiny. Kraglin on the other hand felt nervous walking around here, like he wasn't allowed to. He half expected an alarm to go off at any minute and pronounce them intruders. He barely contain himself from shrieking when a door opened just next to him.

 

“Man, calm down, you’re so easily spooked.” Keewau huffed at him, noticing how badly he flinched.

 

“You’re easily spooked laddie? I’ll remember that next time and knock on every door before I open them.” Tullk bemusedly said after he regained his surprised moment.

 

“Tullk?” Kraglin asked surprised, what was the chances of running into him here?

 

“Yes dear?”

 

“I… I.. wasn't expecting to meet you here.” Kraglin stammering explained, feeling like an idiot with both the older men staring at him with ill conceived grins.

 

“I just popped into Yondu’s room, it’s further down this corridor, was checking in if he is coming with us to the planet or if he pissed of the captain again.” Tullk just answered and shrugged his shoulders.

 

“So, is he? He’s a wandering catastrophe most of the time, would not surprise me if the captain grounded him again.” Keewau asked with a laugh.

 

“Oh, hi Keewau. Yes, actually he is coming, but he promised me he would get shitfaced tonight so don’t expect to see much of him. Personally I’m planning on sitting down quietly with a whiskey and having a relaxing time. What’s your plans, maybe the two of you want to join?” Tullk asked and looked at them expectantly.

 

“Sure, you’re heading to the ‘Yelling jug’, right? Best place on the planet.” Keewau answered carefree.

 

“Ehm… I… will probably not join, I will be on the skeleton crew.” Kraglin muttered and looked away.

 

“Oh, yeah, the opening the door to the artifact thing. Don’t know why everyone pitch that as a bad thing, me and my team thought it was good, saved us a lot of time. Sure it allerted all the others but they were on to us anyway, who know, maybe they would had caught up to us if we would had to take the time open the door without your help. But the even the skeleton crew got some few hours of free time for longer stops, you should check your schedule.” Tullk advised him.

 

“It’s says that I have three hours of free time left after we are supposed to arrive at the planet?” Kraglin said unsure after a quick check.

 

“Not much but still enough to go get a drink before you have to be back and keep a check on the ship.”

 

“But who will do that during the three hours I’m off?”

 

“Kid, all of us don't amble off as soon as the ship stops, the shifts are overlapping, there ones that will work right after the ones that are on now are going to be handling the stop at the planet and other procedures to shut down and that take a while. Which is why you will have some time to hang out with us before you have to go back the boring stuff.” Tullk said with a grin and ruffled his hair.

Kraglin was relieved over those news, it would be cool to get of the ship and see a new planet even if he only would have time for a couple of hours.

 

“It was weird that they all knew wasn't it?” Keewau suddenly asked quietly.

 

Kraglin didn’t understand what he meant, but Tullk cached on and looked bothered.

 

“I don’t really know for sure, I’m not really that high up in the ranks, but Yondu is on my team so I sometimes hear rumors. They say it’s strange that the Nova corp knew we were crashing the fancy party, and that everybody else of our competition knew about the supposedly secret artifact that had been unknown for years, just when we found out about it.” Tullk muttered quietly and leaned towards them.

 

“But then again, the Nova corps could have more security than we knew about, maybe our crew were spotted long before boarding the ship. And our informant on the artifact maybe wanted to earn more money and sold the knowledge to more than us? Keewau countered whispering.

 

“Exactly. It’s too early to say if something is up. Just keep your eye open.” Tullk said cryptic. “Anyway, that is dull talk, let’s talk about something more uplifting. What are you doing down this paths?” he continued and completely changed demeanor from a conspiracy one to a happy cheerful man.

 

“Oh, it’s a big day in Kraglin’s life today, he is getting his leathers fitted.” Keewau said happily and hugged Kraglin’s shoulders like a proud brother.

 

Kraglin got a bit embarrassed over that, but also it felt secretively nice, he didn’t have any siblings.

 

“Ah, good, can’t be a proper ravager without them. Pity Miss Plymm is getting so old, it takes longer and longer before you get your clothes. How long have you been here now?” Tullk asked Kraglin curious.

 

“Ehm… 52 cycles I think?”

 

“Ha, listen to that, to be so young and new that you still count your time on this ship in cycles.” Tullk said with a nostalgic tone to his voice.

 

“You make it sound like you have been here forever, Tullk. Don’t trust this guy Kraglin, he hasn't been here much longer than me.” Keewau grimaced playfully.

 

“Anyway, I don’t have much to do before we land on Izard so I’ll be coming with you guys. I’m looking forward to snigger at this kid’s gold threaded underwear.”

 

“Wait, what?” Kraglin said mortified, definitely not wanting to have an audience when he was trying out clothes.

 

The two men only laugh at him and pushed him towards his humiliation.

 

***

 

An old woman, two men and a kid that wanted to die to avoid suffering from anymore embarrassment was standing in the old woman's sewing room. She was doing dozens of scans of Kraglin’s body. Although, he wasn't sure if all of them was necessary or she just forgot that she had already done them. Tullk and Keewau had a hard time keeping there laughs in at least and he was hoping it wasn’t all about him in his underwear. They both had looked concerned when he had taken his clothes of. They didn’t say anything about it but he could see their eyes linger to long on his thing arms and sunken ribs. It made him feel self conscious. He wasn't use to that, people on his planet mostly looked the same, their hard life wore them down and with no money to spend on extravagant clothes or body modes there weren’t that much that differ you from the one next to you in the dark. This room was well lit and he was standing on a small round platform so they got a extra good view of him. He discreetly held his arms over his pot belly, caused by the parasite in him more than anything else. The scans was at least finished, or Kraglin thought so, Miss Plymm moved so slow so it could just be that she was on her way to get the next scanner out.

 

“You can put on your clothes now.” she suddenly said after staring out in nothingness for five minutes.

 

Kraglin hastily pulled on his clothes without further proposing.

 

“I will let you know when it’s ready for pickup.”

 

“Ok, thank you, Miss Plymm.”

 

The three of them walked out of there like nothing was wrong but the minute the door closed Tullk and Keewau started to laugh so hard they started to cry. Kraglin just put his hands in his pockets and tried to pretend he didn’t notice them, still unsure if they laugh at him or miss Plymm’s extensive scans.

 

***

 

An hour later and Tullk, Keewau and him was all packed into an M-ship taking them down to the planets surface. Kraglin was excited. Even if he was just going to be able to be away a short while this would be the fourth planet he visited in his life. Izard was known for being this high end planet filled to the brim with entertainment also added to the excitement. He had never been to a planet that solely focused on pleasure and fun so he hoped it would look very different. The big ship had stopped just outside the planet's atmosphere and was planned to lay in orbit for the next three cycles while everyone had some fun. The others in the M-ship was talking about the stop being shorter than usual and that it only confirmed that Stakar had managed to pick up another big job from the person they sold the artifact to. No one knew anything about it though or who would be picked for the potential job, Kraglin doubted he would be one of them.

 

The landing was smooth, Kraglin hardly felt any panic when the M-ship touched ground. All of them ambled out of the ship under loud cheers and calls, some of them even singing already. Kraglin could not help smirking at a old, rich and pompous looking couple that looked at the gang of ravagers with disgust, and then hurriedly walked away when the they were being shout after. This place was amazing, so much going on all over the place that Kraglin's head just flipped from side to side like a ping-pong ball. There were flashing lights and music and so so many people everywhere Kraglin felt almost overwhelmed. 

Some of the ravagers was splitting up on their own but most of them followed Tullk and the others to, apparently, the best place on the planet.

Keewau had his arm slung around Kraglin’s shoulder and was shouting something intangible, or Kraglin chose to interpret it as intangible because or else the only other thing that fitted was ‘I want to be married to a moomba” and Keewau was far too sober for that.

 

The ‘Yelling jug’ at first glance looked to fit in with the rest of the posh bars, restaurants and casinos. But if you looked closer you would see that everything was cheap replicas, meant for a gang of ravagers to show up and trash the place when they got drunk. Kraglin feel a bit less bad then when someone accidentally set fire to one of the counters just 6 minutes after they arrived. The staff quickly took care of it and expertly put out the flames while smiling like nothing happened.

 

“Ey, that’s why I like the place. Maybe it’s fun to scare and piss off rich idiots and invade their space but it also gets tiring to have security called on you every time you want a drink. This place gives you all the parts of the planet have to offer but they are used to us so they leave us alone. But we could go to of those really rich places if you want? It’s really funny to piss of rich people. ” Tullk said seeing Kraglin’s impressed look.

 

Their group had occupied the big booth in the southern corner but most of them was up at the bar, like Yondu now drinking straight out of a bottle under loud cheers, or on their way upstairs with a bot hooker. Their little corner was a quiet savanna from the exited atmosphere, music blasting in the speakers and people celebrating a good payday.

 

“If we do try the other places, Kraglin might know some of the people? You haven’t been here before, right? but don’t all you rich people hang together, having some happenings in small exclusive rooms while you sip on tiny drinks? Would be weird if you ran into someone you know!” Keewau laugh and slapped Kraglin on the shoulder. He had somehow already managed to order something and downed it while Kraglin was distracted with a bot hooker smiling at him.

The strong alcoholic smell of Keewau’s breath nearly made Kraglin woozy.

 

“Yeah, sure, might know someone. But this place is fine.” Kraglin just evasive muttered. He had been worried his fake ID wouldn't hold but now he was caught in the fake story of him being rich and it really stung when it was someone he considered his friend that fell for the lie. He was saved by the arrival of the drink list and he hid his face behind it.

 

“I’ll take the same as before, and that one.” Keewau said to the waiter and pointed at one of the bot hookers.

 

“You're ditching us?” Kraglin whined when Keewau got up from his seat to head over to the stairs.

 

“Aw, you are cute Kraglin, but I don’t sleep with crew if there is other options.” Keewau mocked him a blew fake kisses at him before disappearing in the crowd.

 

Kraglin rolled his eyes at him and turned his focus on the list of drinks. He wished he hadn't. Then he could have still pretended this would be a fun couple of hours. This place was expensive. Like really expensive. Kraglin’s stomach sunk and he could feel his cheeks heating when his eyes moved down the list. Some of the drinks was very exotic and extravagant but even the normal stuff that he had actually heard about was costing way more than he actually had on his account right now. He discreetly did a double check on his watch but nope, he still just had some spare change on it. He had put most of his meager pay on more food. He had needed that, he had to cover the basics first, he just hadn’t thought the fun expenses would be so expensive though. Of course he had never had any alcohol in his life before, people back home knew he was underage without looking at any IDs but this was probably a more expensive place than normal. He understood that the others had afford with it, their last gig had paid big despite Kraglin’s fuck up and this planet seemed to have the good stuff worth paying for too.

He continued pretending to look through the list, head ducked down low behind the holopad to hide his face. He felt dumb for being here, he should had stayed back at the ship.

 

“What can I get you?” the waiter was back again and Kraglin could feel him staring expectantly. It felt more like a couple of floodlights was pointed at him then anything else.

 

“I’ll have the 42.” Tullk said and gave back the list.

 

Just out of curiosity Kraglin asked ”What’s 42”?

 

“The answer to the great question. of Life, the universe and everything.” Tullk just answered and smiled to himself. Kraglin didn’t get it.

 

“It’s a whiskey. What can I get you?” the waiter repeated mildly amused.  

 

“Eh..I… I’ll, I think I’m fine as it is. I’ll soon head back anyway, back to work, at the ship. Yeah. I’m fine.” Kraglin fumbled and gave back the holopad while being very interested in a stain on the table.

 

“I’ll also have a number 138.” Tullk suddenly added when the waiter was on their way back.

 

“What’s number 138 then?” Kraglin asked when the drinks was put down in front of Tullk after a long while of awkward silence.

 

“Hopefully the answer to a continued friendship.” Tullk smiled and pushed one of the glass towards Kraglin.

 

Kraglin dumbly stared at it then up at Tullk.

 

“You don’t have to do that, I can get my own drinks, probably buy half the planet on the go to. I shouldn't drink, that’s all. Kraglin hastily said and looked away, unable to look Tullk in the eye any further because then he might see how moved Kraglin was by the gesture.

 

Tullk moved forwards on his seat, leaning in really deep over the table so Kraglin wouldn't be able to avoid him. He stared at his tattoo at his eye instead, it was cool, Kraglin also wanted tattoos.

 

“I don’t know what the deal is with you, something have always been off. Now, I don’t know why you would lie, and continued doing it, we are crew and I don’t see any reason for you to pretend but I guess you have your own reasons so I’m not going to snitch on you. But don’t think I’m a idiot, you don’t have money and you never have had. I can tell on the way you move and talk. We are ravagers son, all we do in this occupation is socialize with rich folks and their shiny things and you are not one of them. That is fine by me, but as I said, don’t think I can’t figure out when someone is lying to my face.” Tullk whispered seriously.

 

“I’m sorry.” Kraglin whispered quietly while his heart hammered against his rib cage.

  
Shit. Was it that obviously? Probably, Kraglin had never meet rich people until that damn party, he was an urchin from the mines, nothing more. He was sitting stiff with fear while Tullk leaned back in his seat again. What would happen to him now? Was Tullk telling the truth about not telling anybody that Kraglin was hiding something?

 

“Ok. Relax, and drink your beer, I won’t tell, that I’ll leave up to you to do, someday soon I hope.”

 

Kraglin was sipping his drink slowly. He wouldn't say he liked it, it was sort of gross but there was alcohol in it and that made him feel a little bit giddy that he was drinking a grown ups drink while only fourteen, even if the alcohol level was so low it didn’t even feel. The one and a half hour after their talk was nice and Kraglin enjoyed himself with the others when they came back, Keewau still missing, even if he kept sneaking peaks at Tullk. The older ravager acted like the conversation hadn’t  happened so Kraglin pretended the same. He had wanted to come clean with Tullk, but that also meant all of his other lies would come out and that would potentially be bad. Especially since the man now had bought a drink to an underage person.

 

Too soon someone came to pick him up, the rest of the skeleton crew that was going to work with him for the coming three cycles.  
In this time Kraglin was going to do two 5 hour shifts and one 4 hour every cycle, in other words, he had to work a whole 4 hour shift extra every cycle. That sucked. Keewau said that the Skeleton shifts was easy though, just really boring. Basically you had to make sure the ship didn’t get attacked, got caught in a meteor rain or something like that. Kraglin didn’t have much experience so he was probably not going to doing any steering of the ship, or handling canons and stuff, but do less qualified tasks that was easier to do when everyone was away. Like washing all the bedding in all the bunk beds around the ship, or clean common areas that usually had a lot of people in the way. Sounded fun.


	7. Let's take a walk... out there

The skeleton shifts had been incredibly boring. Since most of the crew had been off having fun Kraglin had been doing most work all alone. The best part was that he could sleep late because no one was sharing his bed and needed him to get out off it in time. It was also nice to not have a foreman hanging over you all the time and he could do the things in his own time. But soon the quiet corridors was getting to him and he caught himself talking out loud to feel less lonely, he was sort of relieved when the howling pack of ravagers came back after the three cycles and all could go back to normal.

 

Everything was slow the coming cycles and Kraglin got a chance to catch up with Keewau about what he had missed out on. Keewau obviously did not remembered at all as much as he retold but Kraglin liked his stories so he let it slip that some of it would physical not had been able to have happen. Kraglin was very jealous anyway. He should try to save some more for fun things. The next place probably would not be as expensive either. He could not change his pay rate much though, all he could do to affect it on the level he was on right now was to be on the teams that did the heists. Since he didn’t do well on the last one he was not surprised that he didn’t get pulled for the next one. Many from his team got pulled, including Keewau. Keewau spent most of the day telling Kraglin about how cool he would be on the coming mission and how thankful the higher ups would be for his presence. Keewau was a dick.  

Kraglin was still going to miss him when he was gone. This was a even longer mission then the last one, the others would be gone for a week if things went according to plan. They didn’t usually get this many big jobs so close to each other but they didn’t complain, it was good money.

 

Kraglin was now standing in the hangar after just finishing his second four hour shift of that cycle. It had been easy shifts lately, Raymento and the others had been in a good mood since they came back from their break and that had improved Kraglin’s work climate significantly.

Kraglin would even say it had been ok being aboard the ship.

It would be much duller without Keewau there, he didn’t say it but he felt a sting in his heart watching him pack up the M-ship and helping check the final details. Keewau was joking with everybody and made fun of Kraglin for looking sulky about it all. But quiet he said to him in passing that “You know my com signal, give me a call when you feel lonely and I’ll see if I have time to answer. Don’t worry, it’s only for a week anyway. Maybe you’ll find some more friends during the time?” and that made Kraglin feel a little better. He was being silly, it was only for a week as he had said. But Kraglin couldn't help but to feel weird and sentimental, like he was watching the last minutes of a good old time that soon would disappear.

He waited and watched until he could no longer see the M-ship Keewau was in, the spec in space might as just be a twinkling star then his friend. He left with a sigh and went for his final shift that day.

 

***

 

The coming shift was boring without his friend. He had some others on his team that he also used to talk to but all of them had been pulled for the mission. The captain had pulled a lot of men for this job. Only the people Kraglin didn’t know or like was left, which maybe meant that they wasn't as good as the ones he liked? Kraglin liked that idea, he hoped this place got a nose for what was good people and rewarded them, even if they accepted most. If they did, then Kraglin maybe had a chance of repairing his bad start?

 

He had talked to Keewau, which he had been bullied for by the man. Kraglin still had been relieved seeing that his friend was alive and well. Also, he had missed talking to him. Keewau said there was much to do on the mission, they didn’t have too much time to goof around but it was interesting one so he didn’t mind, he didn’t like the ones that you had to sit and wait forever for something to happen. They hung up too soon because they were heading out on the next section of the mission and Keewau couldn’t talk more. Kraglin felt both more and less alone at the same time after his friends face had disappeared on the screen.

 

That had been yesterday. Right now he was in the training room, trying to improve his skills with a rifle so he actually could use it if he got a chance to go on a mission. It didn’t work to well. If not his intention was to actually hit the wall because then he was doing great. He fired again and missed.

 

“You missed.”

 

Kraglin flinched so badly he dropped the weapon.

 

“Boy, you’re way too jumpy for your own good.” Yondu muttered while shaking his head.

 

“It’s not my fault that you sneak up on me! Sir.” Kraglin said flustered and crossed his arms defensively.

 

“If someone sneak up on you the right way to act would be to turn around and aim for that person, not to drop the gun and then pout like a child.” Yondu chided him while walking over.

 

Kraglin dropped his arms like he meant to do that all along and not because someone said he looked like a pouting child.

 

“Pick up the rifle.” Yondu commanded and stopped next to him.

 

Kraglin did as told.

 

“You need a better stance, stand further apart with your feet or you will easily topple over. Keep the butt here, and move back with… yes, and..” Yondu was muttering while he moved Kraglin around like a puppet. “Now, aim, at the target, not the wall, and fire.”

 

Kraglin did. Kraglin still missed.

 

“No, boy, you’re a tensing up just when you’re about to shoot, you need to relax, don’t be afraid of the rifle.”

 

Kraglin tried to relax. It was the same thing as hitting a target with a knife he tried to tell himself, he was capable of aiming then, he should be able to aim now too.

 

The next shot was a little bit better.

 

“Again.”  


 

Yondu was a merciless trainer. Kraglin lost track on how long they were spending in the training room but during that time he heard the word ‘again’ more times than he ever heard in his life. He was doing better for a while, but then worse again when he started to get tired of the never ending shooting.

 

“Boy, you need to work up your stamina, if we ever end up in a deadlock and we all need to trust that you can keep up the shooting.” Yondu lectured him when Kraglin needed to put down the gun to rest. That thing was heavy after a while, especially if you had worked a full cycle of shifts already.

 

“Yes sir.” Kraglin answered slightly beaten and looked away. It did bother him, he had wanted to impress Udonta.

 

Yondu seemed to notice that Kraglin felt dispirited after his words and his eyes soften.

 

“Hey, son. We have been here awfully long now, why don’t we quit for the day and do some fun instead? I can train you in the art of cards instead, maybe train you well enough that you can beat Tullk?” he said more softly.

 

Kraglin nodded, thankful that he didn’t need to continue with missing his target. He put the training gear away and followed Yondu to the recreation area instead.

 

“Sir?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Why aren’t you on the mission with the others? I thought the captain pulled all the good ones he had?” Kraglin asked while they walked.

 

“Yeah, he did, but some always have to stay behind to guard the ship, that’s why Stakar and Martinex both stayed. We are sending out a lot of capable people so we need two of the best to stay. This is our home, and we need to protect it to have something to return to. This parts of the galaxy isn’t nice you know, that’s why we hang out in this area. Besides, my team have been doing the last two missions and both of them was big, it was time for us to move so the rest of the crew could have a chance of earning more money.”

 

***

 

Kraglin tried to call Keewau that night but he didn’t answer. He was probably busy and didn’t have time. Or he was asleep, Kraglin wasn't sure which circadian rhythm they were going with. So it wasn’t strange if he didn’t answered. He still worried that something had happen.

 

***  


Two cycles had past since then and Kraglin still hadn’t gotten a hold of Keewau. That made him slightly more worried. He had seen the captain and first mate talk to each other in a corridor and Stakar had had a big frown on this forehead. Kraglin didn’t know him well enough though and it could be that he just read to much into it and that Stakar always looked like that. He had tried asking someone about it but they had gotten angry and told him not to alarm people on the ship with nonsense. Kraglin had kept quiet after that but he also had kept his eyes and ears opened for more details.   
  
Nobody really looked twice at him, he was inconspicuous looking and therefore he often found that he could stand next to someone without them noticing him. Thanks to that he managed to overhear some things. And now he was even more worried.  
  
Something had happened with the crew on the mission. An attack? Something that had seemed preplanned and something about the intel being wrong.

  
Kraglin tried to call Keewau every chance he got after that but he still didn’t answered. He had talked to Yondu and Tullk about it but they had told him that the team was in a bad position and that it was not uncommon that you could not reach someone for days if that happened. Yondu told a long action filled anecdote about a mission he had been on where they had been in a tight spot and not been able to call backup. Kraglin guessed he was trying to make him feel better about not being able to reach his friend but he forgot to leave out the fact that more than half of the team had died. Tullk uncomfortable had discreetly coughed and suggested that they should go and eat something instead.    


***

 

Kraglin was swabbing the floor with another guy. They were suppose to be somewhere else, but then, the sticky mess on the floor wasn't suppose to be here neither. And as the foreman had said, they were not going anywhere if the mess they caused weren't.  
  
Kraglin had been aboard the ship long enough now to pick up when the big engine of the ship shifted, but not for long enough to not notice it anymore, when they unplanned slowed down. That was when he felt it he paused his frenetic scrubbing of a spot that might be dirt, might be paint, and looked around.

 

“Hey, did you feel that? We are slowing down.”

 

The other guy looked up from frantically scrubbing his spot that-might-be-dirt-but-could-be-paint and shrugged his shoulders.  

Kraglin faintly heard the M-ship hangars alarms travel through the corridor. They were deploying M-ships in the middle of nowhere?

  


Then suddenly there were a loud bang that rocked the entire big ship badly and alarms went off.   
  
  
The alarms was blaring and red lights started to flash. Kraglin didn’t know what they meant but he was sure they were very bad and they soon would be dead.

 

“WHAT'S GOING ON?!” he screamed over the screeching sounds. He could hear Stakar’s voice over the alarm giving orders and smattering of something against the walls of the ship.  


“We are taking fire! Someone is attacking us!” his scrub friend shouted back to him while starting to run in the directions of the bridge.

 

Kraglin panicked followed him, unsure what to do but not in the mood to be alone when the next big boom nearly toppled them over.

 

“Shit, they have to have a lot of firepower to be able to rock as big ship as this is.”

 

“I thought space was quiet!” Kraglin shouted when the smattering of small plasma rounds was hammering their outer hull.

 

“Yeah, it is, but we aren't in space, we are in a ship, and there is oxygen in here for the sound to travel in.” the other guy answered annoyed, not having time with a spacenoob in the middle of an ongoing attack.

  


“Hey!”

 

Kraglin and the other turned around. More crew was coming running from another direction.

 

“You know what's going on?”

 

“We are under attack, looks like they have been waiting for us. which is really interesting because they have had the time to set up a nice big cannon apparently.”

 

“Yeah, just when most of our crew is of the ship"

 

“Talk later, we should head up to the bridgeto see what we can help with.” somebody else said and pushed pass them.

 

Kraglin was thinking about it though while they were running, this was not the first time he heard that someone else knew too much. In fact, came to think about it, he had been hearing that ever since he got onboard the ship. Keewau had talked something cryptic about it with Tullk the day Kraglin took measurements for his leathers. Was there a traitor amongst them?

  
  


When they hurried down the corridors they could hear the ship's cannons fire up. Kraglin had never seen them in use during the time he was aboard but the buildup in them made his hair stand on its end. The biggest guns on this thing was big, massive, unfathomably large, and when the shot finally went off it shock the hole ship. They all stopped and listened. The smattering of the the small ones was still heard but not the big one that had so far gotten three hits on them.   


Then there were a loud boom, Kraglin and the others fell to the ground from the shear force of the impact, and everything went quiet and pitch black when their engines died.

 

Kraglin had nearly time to panic before the backup power for the emergency lights came on. Then he really started to panic when he suddenly started to feel weightless.

 

Kraglin hadn’t been in space for long and he hasn't got the chance to actually feel zero gravity, both the ship and the M-ships had artificial made gravity. He had thought about it sometimes, laying awake in the bed, about that the cold darkness was just a thin reinforced plate away from him, he had been thinking about how it would feel to float around in it. Feeling it for the first time, unplanned, was exhilarating but above all terrifying. As the warning system started to beep with a different note his body was telling him that he was falling and his brain panicked and he started to flail his arms and legs to prevent that. All his fast movements did was sending him flying into the roof of the corridor, smacking his head in a light fixture.

 

“Hey, newbie, calm down, one would think you never been in space before.” someone said and gently pushed him out of more harmfully sharp objects.

 

“There’s no gravity!” Kraglin panicky said and tried to grab a hold of the person to get some stability but missed and did a awkward somersault in the air instead.

 

“Oh, really?  I haven't noticed.” the other said sarcastically. “they must have gotten a hit that shook the artificial gravity too hard, it will hopefully came back on its own once the computer have done the diagnostics. We should continue to the bridge.”

 

“So it’s not destroyed?” Kraglin asked carefully, trying to maneuver slowly so he was not, according to his preferences, upside down.

 

“Don’t think so, it’s placed deep in the ships main core, it’s more likely it shut down to calibrate itself, it have happen before.”

 

The others started to move towards the bridge with smooth calm movements, looking like they never been living with gravity their whole lifes. Kraglin was falling behind but had managed to get close to a wall and used it to pushed of from. This was a mistake. He had gravely underestimated the effects of being weightless and the force of this push send him flying like a ping-pong ball through the corridor.

 

“For flark sake! What is wrong with you?!”  


“Idiot!”

 

Kraglin flew past the others and smacked painfully against a wall.

 

“Come on newbie, get your spacelegs!”

 

Several of the other was laughing at him floating by. He embarrassed followed them as soon his ribs started to feel less painful. He moved slow and pulled himself forwards more than pushing of from thing. It was sort of cool to be in zero gravity once the first panic had settled and he had got a hang on the moving a bit more.

They came out in a bigger corridor and their were a lot more people here. They were not all heading the same direction, some were going the other way with grim faces that made Kraglin worried. His group was arriving at a big room that Kraglin only could assume was the bridge.

 

The room was bustling with energy, several people in front of several screens, reports and orders was flying in the air. Stakar was standing in the middle of the room handling it all with what Kraglin only could call expertise. He seemed to have his own artificial gravity platform separated from the ships main one and was not affected by the zero gravity. All the other crew in front of the screens was strapped down in their chairs so it was only the new arrivals that was floating around in the air.

 

“Captain, where do you need us?!” one from Kraglin’s group asked.

 

“All M-ships have already been deployed but that last hit made a big hole in sector 87, we have been breached and I need more people on the repairs of that.” the captain answered without looking at them, his eyes was glued at the big window in front of them, showing what Kraglin only could call a battle zone. M-ships and enemy ships was flying around like insects all over the place and plasma bolts was flying like colorful fireworks.

 

For the first time Kraglin truly wished he had stayed at his planet. It maybe had been dull and he had had no future but out in space shit was so much more scarier and he seemed to run as easily risk of dying here than in the mines back home.

 

Wait, sector 87? That was his sleeping quarters was? Kraglin suddenly thought when the captains words caught up with him. His mind was bustling when several hands was pushing him towards the exit. He couldn't really focus on any specific thought and he let himself be swept by the wave of people.

 

They were heading towards a storage place where they kept spacesuits. Some on the ship, specially they who had M-ships, always had one on themselves, the newer ones that was a force field more that a suit to put on, others had retractable once that once folded together didn’t take any space and could be stored in one's pocket. The other however borrowed space suit from the storage room when needed.   
The gravity was coming on slowly and Kraglin could feel himself get heavier and heavier. It was a weird feeling and Kraglin already was missing the sensation of floating through the corridors.

 

The storage room was bustling with activities and there were a lot of shoving and pushing, plus fistfights and knife threats, when the ravagers was picking up and putting on the suits. Apparently not all suits was as good as the others. They it had been bought and stolen during the years and everyone wanted the newest ones with better features. Kraglin was maybe tall for his age but he was scrawny and was easily pushed out of the way by bigger meaner ravagers. He managed to lay his hands on a suit that looked good but lost it when he got a fist in his face that left him groggy. When he came to it again most of the storage unit was ransacked.

Kraglin’s ordinary foreman, Raymento, already dressed in a spacesuit but helm off, was there picking together complete suit from the leftovers and handing it out to the ones still left.

 

“Obfonteri, move your ass! It’s your sleeping quarters that have taken a hit, we expect you to help with the repairs of it. Put this on you, tools over at B9, and head over to that hole and start patch it up.” Raymento barked and shoved a suit in Kraglin’s face.

 

Kraglin hastily tried to put it on but it was an old one, practically ancient, with nothing automated and no instructions programed. It smelled terrible too. Raymento ended up having to help him put it on which Kraglin was grateful of because even if the didn’t like the man he still trusted his knowledge about putting on spacesuit in the correct way more than on his own.

 

“Ehm… is… is that red light suppose to flash like that?” he asked Raymento curious anyway.

 

“Pshaw! The warning system is just a bit whacked out, don’t worry about it. You just hit it a couple of times and it’s fine.” Raymento answered and smacked the helmet, that Kraglin was wearing, with a very big hand.   


Kraglin’s head flipped around like a ping-pong ball inside the helmet and he wondered if he was going to end up with a concussion. The red light did stop so he guessed Raymento had had right. Kraglin awkwardly started to waddled down the corridor toward were the hole was. Just his luck that on all the places the ship would take a hit it was in room he slept. The spacesuit was two sizes to big for him and it was heavy. He had already started to build up a sweat.

 

“Hey! Where are you going?” someone shouted after him.

 

Kraglin turned around, manage to stop himself from falling over, and said “To the hole”.

 

“Idiot, you can’t walk that way, it’s sealed off from the rest of the ship, you go from the outside, through the airlock.”

 

The other person didn’t even wait to see if the spacenoob understood before they left so Kraglin embarrassed waddled after them as fast as he could. Yeah, go through the airlock sounded like a smart idea.

 

It was a terrible idea.

 

A couple of minutes before he stood in the airlock thinking that he could do this. It would be the same as when the gravity malfunctioned just moments ago so it wouldn't feel any different. He was going outside and help patch the small hole that had happened from one of the shoots. He had seen space now, he had spent a lot of time looking out the windows whenever he had the chance, so it would not be much different than looking out from a spacesuit. Then there was a loud clank when they shut the airlock door to the ship and Kraglin just very vividly got the thought in his head that he regretted ever coming here. Then there was another clank and he was no longer on the ship.

 

Kraglin started to panic the second he was outside because, shit, he was floating around in space. He was back in zero gravity and it was so big, and dark, and shit this is space, and cold, and fuck he was going to die. The others had already started to patch up the enormous hole a bit further down the ship, how was they not dead yet with half the ship gone? They still hadn't defeated all of the enemy, the big one was taken out but smaller ships was still flying around fighting the M-ships, and there were only a thin layer of fabric shielding him from that and the big void. Kraglin should head up to the others and help them. Kraglin wasn’t moving and he was starting to have problems to see because he's hyperventilating fogged up his helmet.

 

“Hey, what are you doing? Are you having a panic attack? Snap out of it, that shit is dangerous out here!” someone said distantly and muffled and started to shake him.

 

The movements only spun them around slowly while more warning lights flashed up on Kraglin’s screen. Kraglin caught the words ‘Warning: rapidly decrease in oxygen, check for leaks’ before he got distracted by the other person next to him knocking on his helmet to get his attention.

 

“I said, stop focusing on the scary shit. LOOK! Here’s your tool, do you LIKE it? It’s pretty isn’t it? It’s going to look even prettier when you turn it on. Not that kind of turned on, but the other one, as in the power is on and… uh… LOOK HERE, here is my tool, I have a different one and…”  the other one was rambling nonsense but it did help distract Kraglin, especially his way of exhilarating some of the words and waving the tools in his face and demanding his attention. It made his brain move one step away from frozen on a loop of terror to be more where he could manage to push the list of 'things that could go wrong' in the back of his head and focus on what was just half a meter in front of him.

 

With the help from the other he moved to a spot that needed fixing and started to patch up the ship. He forced himself to not pay attention to the flashing lights behind him from the fight still going on. There were no sound except from the occasional crackling on the com when orders were given. Kraglin focused on his job and nothing else. He ignored the flashing red lights on his helmet popping up from time to time, he ignored the coldness that steadily started to seep into the badly insulated spacesuit and he ignored that he was starting to get tired. The panic was there and lurking every second, he could see it in his peripheral, but he was stubborn and pushed the intrusive thoughts away and kept at it until someone said over the com that it was break time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is really interesting because this is the original chapter one. In my first draft for this story it would just be a short intro with Kraglin meeting Yondu on a boat they both trying to steal from and then the attack happen when they came back to Stakar's ship. But, as always, I add more once it's time to finally write the thing. The section of the story we now have entered is a important one for me because this is the part I wanted to write all along, the part I have had in my mind for almost a couple of years now and it is the part that made my finally sit down and write it.


	8. Wake up!

The fight was over, they had defeated their attackers and could now fully focus on patching the ship up. Kraglin had frozen and shakingly eaten his food in the mess hall and listened to what had been said about the event. People was rallied up, they suspected that there was someone, on the ship, that had tricked them into sending a lot of the crew away on a fake mission and then given away the location of the ship to their companions to lay an ambush. The ship hadn't been familiar, they had just been neutral, maybe someone that wanted to come up in the world and had yet established a reputation? It was pretty bold to attack a ravager ship, especially Stakar’s ship of all. Had it been a fair fight they would not had stood a chance, as it was now, the ravagers had taken a bad hit. The ship was on emergency power still, the oxygen level was secured but the biggest heating system was driven by the engines and they were out for now. They was working on rerouting the heating from the emergency engines into the sleeping quarters that normally was heated by the big engine. All of the sleeping quarters except the biggest one where Kraglin slept because that one still had a big hole in it.

 

It had been weird to see the room from the outside, it had felt wrong to see something so familiar wrecked and torn. His bed and locker had been bolted down to the parts that was no longer attached to the ship. It was appalling to know that your safe space were you slept was just gone in a second. It felt strange to know that he had no place to return to when it was time to lay down. He hadn't have much but all the things he had had been in the locker that now no longer existed. That meant his stolen data pad, the platinum toothpicks and the jewelry was lost to the void. He had planned of selling the last two as soon as he could go to a planet, get him some nice things form the units he would make. So that was a big setback, again.

Everything else that had not been bolted down had also been sucked out in the void. Blankets, pillows… crew that was of shift and yet not had time to get out when the attack happened… Kraglin had been terrified that he would bump into the frozen corps of the guy he shared bed with but they had still been moving when they took the hit so the body's was far away already when they finally stopped. That made Kraglin feel uncomfortable, to know that their lifeless bodies floated around somewhere out there all alone in the darkness. They had lost some of the crew that piloted the M-ships too in the fight, but they had been received alongside the remains of their ships. They talked about having a common funeral in a few days when the more acute things had been fixed.

 

Kraglin shook his head and focused on his stew instead. He didn’t want to think about that right now. He was going back out again very soon and was just here filling up on energy and warmth. He wasn’t use to this low temperatures, his old space suit wasn't that good at keeping the cold at bay either. But he had to help, they were stuck in this place and had no idea if more of their attackers was on the way. They had called the other ravagers and what Kraglin knew the closest one had set course for them immediately but he didn’t know when they would arrive.

He had tried call Keewau but he still didn’t answer.

 

***

Back at it again after a short break.

 

Kraglin was still cold, the short break hadn’t heated him up much and the heating in the mess hall had only been at the minimum to not freeze their asses to the benches.

They were all working as fast and hard as the could to patch the ship up. The irritation in the group was rising and everyone was getting tired. It was hard to notice time out in space but Kraglin had looked at his watch and he had already been working far more hours than he normally did. It was beginning to be hard to move now, the zero gravity made his movements light and cost less energy but the cold was really taking a toll on him. He could no longer feel his fingers and it felt like all his joints was frozen up and made him move stiff. He didn’t dare to complain though, because someone else had done that and they had been told that they could sleep outside if they didn’t want to help with the repairs. So he kept working.   
  
They moved a big sheet of reinforced plate in front of the biggest of holes and Kraglin and some others began bolting it in place. Kraglin was having trouble with his tools until someone irritated pulled it out of his hand, turned it around, and put it back in his hands again. He hadn’t noticed it was turned wrong, but he was getting tired so it wasn’t really his fault. They didn’t have that much left now, they were only a few left outside doing the last patch up jobs, the others had gone to bed in the sleeping quarters that was left. It wasn’t pretty but it only needed to take them to the nearest inhabit planet so they could do proper repairs. Kraglin was shivering badly and his fast breath was fogging up his helmet again. The cooling moist air made frost build up in his eyelashes with was really annoying. He tried to rub his eyes but bumped his hand into the helmet. Annoyed he moved to take it off. Luckily for him there was someone that saw what he was about to do and stopped him from stupidly killing himself by accident.

 

“Okay, we are done here! We can go back inside.” Someone finally said and they took a collective sigh of relief.

 

Kraglin packed up the tools he had been using and headed for the airlock. Someone came after him and turned him around, apparently he had been moving in the wrong direction. It wasn’t that easy, there wasn't any real direction in space.

 

Finally he heard the airlock tighten behind him with a clank and he knew that he finally could rest now. When the force of the artificial gravity hit him again he fell to the floor in a puddle of limbs. He hadn't notice how tired he was when he had been floating around out there. He had never noticed how tiring gravitation was either. He slowly dragged himself out of the stupid spacesuit. The others was already finished with there, far more graceful, undressing, and had already left when Kraglin finally had gotten everything off himself.

 

He slowly walked down the corridors to the sleeping area. They still hadn’t gotten the big engines to work, that was a project for tomorrow for someone more qualified in mechanics than him. The coldness of the void was beginning to eat its way through the ship. Now hours after they stopped frost crystals was starting to build up on the walls through the corridors. He hugged his arms and shivered when he walked, his cotton jumpsuit wasn’t given all that well protection opposed to the leather ones the rest of the crew had. He curse Miss Plymm for being so slow, but maybe it wasn't too late to ask her to add in even more cold reflecting material than the ravager leathers already had? He didn’t ever wanted to be this cold again.

 

He stopped in front of a big blast door and just stared at it dumbly. Right, they sealed of his  sleeping quarters because of the accident and even if they just patch it up they hadn’t yet have time to control in if was safe to sleep in or had any time to restore oxygen and reroute the heat to it. He had forgotten about that little detail. Well, it looked like he would have to bunk up in another room then tonight. He just had to find it first. He started to fiddle with his watch to find the schematics of the ship. He had trouble with making the touchscreen react to his cold fingers. He muttered to himself when he walked that he should ask for gloves that worked with touch screens from Miss Plymm when he got his jumpsuit.

 

He managed to get the watch to react finally and found his way to one of the smaller sleeping quarters. He opened the door and a wall of warm nice, if a bit stinky, air hit him in the face.The place was crowded, there was people sharing bunk and even some on the floors.

“Close the damn door!”

 

Kraglin hastily backed out and closed the door to the frozen air from the corridor. Looked like it was full to the brim. That was understandable, it was the closest one from where they had been working and people was tired and didn’t want to walk any further than they had to. He would have better luck in the next one probably that was further away. He fiddle with his watch, found which way and started to walk.

 

The next one was empty, which was fortunately. Unfortunately it was freezing cold in here. Apparently they hadn’t manage to reroute the heating to this room. Kraglin broke of a icicle that had started to form on the underside of one of the bunks. The vibration of the force shook the rest and made one fell down and spear  itself on the mattress under, right were a head usually occupy the space. The place was ransacked of all the pillows and blankets. The others must have grabbed it from this room as replacement for what had been sucked out the hole. Pity, Kraglin wouldn't mind having a blanket to throw over his shoulders, he still had really hard making the touchscreen react to his fingers. When he made it work again he continued walking towards the next sleeping quarters. He was so damn tired and cold, he just wanted to go to bed and sleep forever.

 

He got lost three times on the way over there. It wasn't hard really, his brain was just frozen and he thought he was somewhere else than he was. Finally he found the door and got that nice warm puff of air in his face again. He quickly walked inside and closed the door to not anger anyone else. This place was as full as the first one had been. Looked like the most of the crew had had the same idea as him about all the other being lazy and stopping at the first place.

 

“Get out, there is no room!”

 

Even if they sent a lot of crew away on the mission they where a lot more left that Kraglin had thought. It was hard to get a estimate when they worked in shifts. Kraglin understand now why he had to share his bed with three people, they were too crowded to the capacity they had. He had spotted a small strip of a blanket that was free, he was skinny, he could probably fit, and tried to move over to it.

 

“OW! Jackass, that was my hand!”

 

“Sorry.”

 

“Ouch, watch where you are walking, idiot!”

 

“Sorry.”

 

When someone threw a boot in his head he finally gave up on trying get a spot and went back, someone threw another boot at him for not doing it gracefully enough to not step on more hands.

 

Outside in the corridor and cold again. The cold felt so much worse now than before. He rubbed his eyes tiredly, the frost in his eyelashes was annoying him and it was making it hard to see. Next place then. He fiddle with this watch again but couldn't make it work no longer, his hands was just too cold. He had seen the place on the map the last time the checked though so he knew kind of in what direction he should walk. He started to amble down the corridor in that direction.

  
He should demand a raise, he wanted to get paid enough money the next payday to have enough to take into a luxurious spa hotel or something. It would be so nice to sink down in a hot bubble bath, sipping on some drinks and have servants ask if he wanted a hot towel. Not stumble around lost and cold in a spaceship. Because he was lost, he was sure about it now, he should had been there by now and he recognized this part of the protruding plumbing as “not at least a part of the area he was expected to be in”. He did however not recognize it as to which part of the ship this was. Everything looked the same anyway and Kraglin was exhausted.

 

He had kept walking further, towards bigger corridors that usually meant they were the “high roads” on the ship with more people in them. He was hoping to find someone that could help him point to where he should go. It was beginning to feel warmer. Maybe the had move the fixing of the engine to earlier, seeing how big of a problem it was with the cold? Maybe the problem had been much easier to fix than they'd initially thought? Regardless, Kraglin was starting to feel warm, the must be really jazzing up the heating system to catch up. He even pulled down the sipper of his jumpsuit. Maybe he should just sleep here in the corridor? It was dirty, sure, but he was exhausted and had slept in basically a hole in the ground, a very comfortable one with nice moss and other soft things nevertheless, but still, a hole in the ground, for most of his life. He couldn't care less about a dirty floor. So, he just plonked his bony ass down in the corridor he happened to be in right now. If someone didn’t like it, then they could show him the way to a sleeping quarter. It was warm now so he tiredly leaned his back against the wall and fell asleep.

 

***

 

Yondu was heading towards his bedroom. He was exhausted after the fighting. He had cursed the cowardliness of their assailants more times than he could count. It had been very satisfying to blow their small ships into pieces. He was the one landing the final blow to the big canon too, that had felt the most satisfying. He was just bugged out that he hadn’t managed to do it in time to stop it from taking out a big part of Stakar’s ship. They had been taken by surprise and had they not been as good and efficient as they were they could probably all have ended up dead. Yondu had angrily told Stakar that they should call up every single person on the ship and interrogate them to find the traitor that set the ambush. Stakar had tiredly explained to him that they had more pressing matters right now, like a crew that needed sleep if they didn’t want a mutiny to happen. Stakar had right, he always had. So Yondu had huffed annoyed and walked back to his room.

He was looking forward to his soft pillows and above all, heating system. His room was located in the same area Stakar’s and Martinex was, just were both the big engine and the emergency engines core pipe run by, so he always had a very toasty room. Yondu was very happy for that, his home planet had been tropical and he liked the heat. Martinex always thought it was too much, he liked a cold room better. He probably liked the ships new interior design with frost on the walls.

 

Yondu, shivering, walked fast through the corridors until he saw a lump on the floor up ahead. Did someone just dump their shit anyway there were standing? Fine, he was not the most tidy guy but he at least didn’t leave his things in the corridor like that.

He walked towards the pile to see if there was anything he could take, hey, of they left it on the ground it was for anyone's taking, he wasn't stealing anything.

 

He was horrified when he realized that it was actually a person. Who the hell was crazy enough to sit down in a freezing ship when frost was literally growing on the walls? Shit, he recognized him, it was that rich brat he picked up by accident when they raided that fancy party a while back. Kraglin, that was his name right? He experimentally kicked him but he didn’t react. Shit.

He squatted down in front of him and shook his shoulders. The boy didn’t react, his head was just flopping from one side to the other like a limp doll. Shit. Yondu grabbed his cold face, his big blue hands nearly engulfing the smaller man's head. His lips was pale and there was frost in his eyelashes. He was still breathing. Yondu heart started to beat hard when he noticed the small and weak puffs of air.

 

“Hey! Boy, wake up! Come on son, wake up!” Yondu shook him more and lightly tapped his cheek.

 

Kraglin’s eyelashes twitched but he didn’t wake up. Yondu needed to get him warm, asap. He looked down on the small form in front of him. Damn, he looked so young, was he really 18? He put his arms under him and lifted him up without a problem. He hurried down the corridor towards his room. It would be warm in there and he had several blankets and animal skins he could wrap up his thin frame in. He really was thin, weighted almost nothing, damn, this kid needed to get over being picky with his food, he was wasting away.   


He must had been on the repair team, Yondu had seen them working from his M-ship. Stakar had just gotten the report that it was done when he had been with him on the bridge. Had Kraglin been out there the entire time? He must had been right, he couldn't be that stupid that he just sat himself down in a ice cold corridor?

He must had been chilled down too much, got disoriented and wondered of in the wrong direction. Yondu bitterly gritted his teeth. He needed to talk to Martinex about looking over the spacesuits they had, they must not be up the to the test if someone got hypothermia after using them. Also mention that the team leader hadn’t done their job and kept an eye on everybody if Kraglin could just get lost on his own without anyone noticing. He knew it was an emergency and everything was a chaos, but they were ravagers, their lives were nothing but chaos all the time. They should had noticed that he was not alright and sent him in sooner. Big scary hole in the ship sent everyone running around like chickens. Ah, dammit, Yondu just realized he was about to think they should practice more safety procedures and he was usually the one avoiding them the most. Maybe he should listen to Stakar more often…

 

Finally he was inside his room, Kraglin was still alive but barely. He carefully put him on his bed and pulled of his boots and then his jumpsuit. It was not leather? He really needed to talk to Stakar about that, his sentimental for old Miss Plymm was starting to go to far now, crew needed their uniform. He swaddled the boy in all his blankets while he started to get undressed himself. Finally finished getting all his leather and termoinsulation undergarments off his body he crawled down in the bed together with Kraglin. He pulled him close and put his arms around him. He was so cold and still, for several seconds Yondu feared that he had died on the way there, but then he noticed a twitch in his eyelids and he sigh in relief. He put himself to more comfort and carefully moved Kraglin so his body touch as much off Yondu’s. Centaurians usually had a much higher body temperature than Xandarians so it should help heat him up.

 

Yondu’s eyelids was beginning to grow heavier. It had been a hard day and he was in his warm room listening to someone else, now more easier, breathing. He guessed he could sleep, there wasn't more he could do now anyway. It was a bit weird falling asleep with someone in the same room, he hadn't had that in a long while. But his brain didn’t read Kraglin as a threat and he soon fell asleep anyway.


	9. Need to get out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess I should warn people that the second half of this chapter contains panic and claustrophobia in case anyone have problems reading about that? It's the part when Kraglin is having a flashback in the end of the chapter.

Yondu was sleeping terrifically well, better than he had done for as long as he could remember. That’s why he got really grouchy when a red light kept flashing him in the face. Irritated he cranked one eyelid open and looked around. It was a watch that offended him with its presents. He turned the alarm off and noticed that the watch was attached to someone's arm. Oh, right, the rich brat he found in the corridor yesterday. Everything came crashing back to Yondu, the traitor, the attack... and he remembered why he had someone else flopped out over him asleep without having a headache from the night before. Well, at least it looked like he was still alive, snoring softly on top of the centaurian. Tentatively Yondu carded his fingers through the guys hair. He had gotten a haircut, that was good, he didn’t look like an idiot that much anymore. Yondu settle down better in his bed, he still had some more hours of sleep left before his shift started. Usually the nightmares was what woke him up and then he usually couldn't go back to sleep. But they hadn't bothered him tonight so he could feel his eyelids getting heavier. He closed his eyes with a sigh and fell asleep again. 

 

***

 

An alarm that Kraglin wasn't use to went off and his whole body spasmed in panic until his brain woke up enough to inform him that it was just someone's clock set for waking up. Confused he looked around. He was lying in a big bed covered with blankets and animal skins, it was really hot in here. There were trinkets and dead plants strewn haphazardly all over the place. Kraglin’s eyes was big as saucers. He had no idea off were he was or how he got here. Wait, what had happened last night? 

The attack, right, and then he had tried to find somewhere to sleep. But, he couldn't remember that he had found this place? 

 

Suddenly the pile of blankets next to him move, and for a second Kraglin got convinced that one of the animal furs was still attached to an alive animal so he basically screamed and threw himself of the bed. He hit the metal floor hard and blinding pain traveled up his spine from his tailbone. 

 

“What in the stars damn are you screaming for this early in the morning?” a very grumpy centaurian said and looked down on him over the edge of the bed. 

“Yondu?” Kraglin asked surprised. 

 

“Yeah, who did you expect?”

 

“Well… my bunk mate maybe? I don’t know, sir. I’m confused, where I’m I?” Kraglin asked and got up from the floor. He discovered that he wasn't wearing anything more than his underwear. 

 

“You are in my room.”

 

“Ok… why am I in you room, sir?” 

 

“I found you on the floor, frozen and half dead. I brought you here to warm you. I basically saved your life, you should be grateful.” Yondu bragged and went into his small bathroom to do his business. 

 

Kraglin started to look for his clothes. He was still confused to why Yondu had found him on the floor. The last thing he remembered was that someone had thrown a boot at him for accidentally stepping on their fingers. 

 

“So, are you joining me for breakfast?” Yondu said when he got out of the bathroom. 

 

Kraglin had just managed to locate his boots.   
  
   
“Uh, I guess? What time is it, sir? Kraglin distracted asked and glanced down on his watch.  
   
OH SHIT. It was late, very very late, oh no no nonononono. His shift had already started!  
Panicked he reached for his jumpsuit and hastily put a leg through it, he lost his balance and fell like a log and hit his face against the floor.  
   
“Ow!” he exclaimed and tried to get up but managed to tangle himself up in the pant's legs and ended up on his ass on the floor again.   
  
   
“What the flark are you doing? Calm down.” Yondu said and bended down to help him sort out his clothing issue.   
   
“I’m late! The alarm didn’t went off! Did I sleep so deep I didn’t hear the common alarm?” Kraglin hastily explained and managed to get the right leg in the right hole. 

 

“Hu? Oh, you can’t hear the common alarm all the way over here, this area goes by a different shift schedule than the common one.” Yondu answered and handed him one of his boots. 

 

“What?!” Ah, shit.” Kraglin muttered and pulled his other boot on. “Got to go, we’ll have to take that breakfast another day, sir!” Kraglin shouted and ran to the door. 

 

Just when he was about to go through it he awkwardly turned around and added sheepishly “and sir, thanks for, uh, saving my life?”, before he turned around again and ran out of there. 

 

Yondu was just sitting left behind on the bed, feeling slightly dazed from the chaotic whirlwind that had just past his room. 

 

***

Aleta had reached them now, they had just stopped next to them and Stakar was expecting the stressful sound of her shoes coming down the corridor very soon. He had just got a report that an M-ship had asked for permission to land in their hangar, she was by no doubt on it, charging up to give him smarting remarks about his damage ship. Talking about damaged ship, Martinex elbowed him in the ribs to bring him back from his thought about his love and to focus on one of the foremen, Raymento, that was giving them a report of the work with the ship's repairs. 

 

“... I would not recommend anyone sleeping in it yet though, even if we work as fast as we can, we still need to reinforce the damaged area more for it to be safe. Furthermore, the boys are cranky, everyone had a bad night's sleep. And we were missing one guy this morning.” Raymento finished his report. 

 

“Missing one guy?” Stakar question, now fully focused. 

 

“Yes, new guy, Obfonteri. He’s some rich Xandarian we picked up not long ago. Skinny and he often have this blank face like he don’t get it. Seems to do what he want, it ain't the first time he is late for a shift or cause trouble, I have had problems with him before.” Raymento said serious. 

 

“Well. Thank you for letting me know. Keep an eye on him. Especially right now when we have a traitor amongst us. I don’t like that he is missing. Is that all?” Stakar asked. 

 

“Yes, I will head back in and kept the men working if you don’t wish anything more from me?” Raymento nodded.

 

“No, it’s good, I’ll should head over to the hangar to meet up with Aleta now.” Stakar said and nodded his goodbye. 

 

Raymento went back into the bigger of the sleeping quarters in sector 87 that had been damaged, and Stakar and Martinex started to walk down the corridor towards the hangar. 

 

“You are very distracted.” Martinex said after a while. Stakar could hear the smugness in his voice clearly.

 

“There is a lot to have in mind with the repairs.” he just answered shortly. 

 

“Yes, the repairs.” Martinex said deadpanned but they both knew he had referred to Aleta. 

 

“Do you know anything about this Obfonteri guy?” Stakar asked to distract his first mate and ward of any attempts of further prodding about an oncoming menace clad in green. He wondered if it could be Obfonteri that was the traitor. He had just join, and he apparently was rich with was a) odd since he joined the ravagers and b) rich meant connections, connections to perhaps people that wanted the ravagers gone? 

 

“Well, sir, I have talked to him at least, just after the artifact incident, he is the one that caused it by the way.” Martinex said humming. 

 

“Really? He was the one that caused the others to know the location?” Stakar thoughtfully asked. 

 

“I know what you are thinking, sir,  but I don’t believe his the one. I didn’t get any suspicious vibes from him at all talking to him, not in the traitor way anyhow. He seemed truthfully regretting something that had been a accident. He is a mess but I don’t think he is the traitor.” 

 

“Alright, I trust your judgement on that, focus on the other ones that I have already given you.” 

 

“Yes, captain.”

 

Suddenly they heard running footsteps coming in their direction and they stopped.  A few seconds later a running blur came around the corner on a branching off way from the corridor. The crew held high speed and had no time stopping for the appearing obstacle the two men was. That was why the new arrival with a panic in his face ran right into the captain.  
Now Stakar wasn’t tall but he had a lot of bulk and the other guy didn’t stand a chance and got thrown to the floor by the colliding force. Stakar took the whole ordeal calmly and just stood still while raising his eyebrows questionably at the pile of limbs at his feet. 

 

The guy on the floor looked up on the captain with pure panic, eyes nearly popping out of their sockets, he had nice blue eyes at least. He hastily got up from the floor, Stakar was impress at how fast he sorted out all of his limbs after looking so tangled up. He nearly stumbled and fell again in his rush of getting up though. The guy did the ravager salute wrong, smiled sheepishly, switch hand and did the ravager salute again. 

 

”Obfonteri I presume?” Stakar said neutral. This guy was a mess. 

 

“Y.. yes, yes captain, sir.” Obfonteri stammered. 

 

Stakar sigh and put a hand on his shoulder. 

 

“Son, I just heard that you didn’t showed up for your shift.” he said sternly.

 

“I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t mean to, I overslept.” the young crew member said regretful and looked down on the floor. 

 

“Discipline is important here. We are maybe pirates, but we are not just any pirates, we are ravagers. Our reputation is important and to uphold it we need to be on our toes.” Stakar continued while turning Obfonteri around, hand still firmly in place on his shoulder. 

 

“I understand that, captain.”

 

“We all do mistakes sometime, but this is not the first time and we are in a emergency right now.” Stakar nudged Obfonteri to make him start to walk down the corridor with him. 

 

“I’m sorry, I truly am, it’s because of the emergency I was late, I was sleeping with a guy and wasn't in my room so I didn’t hear the bell go off.” Obfonteri tried to explain. 

 

“You were late, because you were sleeping with a guy?” Stakar clarified. He didn’t care which sexual orientation anyone had but pleasure should not interfere with work, they made more frequent visits to ports than they needed to to refill their stocks enough as it was.

 

“No! Not like that! I didn’t mean I slept with him! I meant I slept in his bed but i didn’t sleep with him!” Obfonteri panicked tried to explain. 

 

“Mr Obfonteri, maybe it’s just best you stop talking, you seems to make it all worse. I’m a busy man and have to welcome our guests so I will hand you over to this competent crew member here.” Stakar interrupted and stopped in front of a foreman he actually didn’t remember the name off. 

 

“How can I be of service, captain? the other answered serious and did a proper ravager salute. It was nice that he had some good people at least, he had gotten a bit worried after Obfonteri's babbling. 

 

“I need you to take Mr Obfonteri here to the brig, he needs to learn that there is consequences to his behavior and he needs to have a moment to think about his priorities aboard this ship” Stakar said serious and pushed Obfonteri towards the foreman. 

 

“WHAT?! NO! no no, sir please! Please let me explain, it’s a misunderstanding, don’t put me in the brig!” Obfonteri begged panicked. 

 

“Okay, that’s enough, stop bothering the captain, come with me.” the foreman said and started to drag Obfonteri out of there. 

 

“PLEASE!”

 

And they were gone. 

 

“Well, that was dramatic.” Martinex muttered. 

 

They started to walk down the corridor again and finally arrived in the hangar. Aleta was already there with some of her crew next to her M-ship. She was just giving Yondu a tight hug and he did the forever game of pretending to not wanting it and simultaneously hugging her back. Stakar couldn't help himself to smile at it and also feel completely dread because Aleta was here on his ship. He missed her though, of course he had, but things was just easier if she was not here. 

 

“When we are getting the ship repairs at the next planet, maybe we should think of expending it when we’re at it?” Martinex said while they walked towards their guests. 

  
“Oh, I don’t know, I don’t want to slab anything on spontaneous, it has to feel right.” Stakar just muttered avoiding. 

  
“Uhu. But we are too crowded. Some of us are growing to big too, maybe it’s time for a move out then?” Martinex said and threw a meaning look at Yondu. 

  
Stakar followed his gaze and looked uncomfortable. 

  
“Maybe we could at least look at some new modules?” the captain sourly ended the conversation. 

 

*** 

 

Kraglin hated himself and his life. He was sitting in a tiny cell in the brig and had for the last few days thought a lot about his life to this point. 

 

Why, why should he always have this kind of luck? Was it even the bad luck that was the problem or was Kraglin just making up excuses for his screw ups? He knows he is just 14 and can’t expect to keep up with the others, but he is given simple tasks, it’s not on the hard shit that he fucks up, it on the easy ones, like ‘not pulling this random level without knowing what it does’, or ‘waking up in time’. He had gone over both incidence several times, repeated the anger, the disappointment and the alienation on peoples faces. Most people didn’t care for him on this place he had concluded, therefore they was not ready to cut him some slack.  
  
Maybe he had never had a life before were people expected things from him? He hadn't had an easy life back at his planet, he had been a street urchin, he had never had a family, he had to provide his own food and clothes and other things he needed. At least after he was 6 and was no longer allowed to stay at the nursing home every kid without a parent ended up. There had been no system that picked up people that had it tough after that, you had to fend for yourself all the time. But, somehow, it was so different from this. Back home everyone had been poor, everyone had been in more or less the same situation. Everybody knew each others struggles and knew each other. On this ship things was more professional and there were systems for everything and all that but everything was much more segregated, there were so many enclosed groups and Kraglin wasn’t doing good on getting into them. There was too much new for him to learn, too much focus on trying to pass as a normal person with knowledge about obvious things, like how you used the showers on a spaceship. Kraglin had already gone over that particular embarrassed memory three times so why not one more time?  
  
Maybe he just wasn't good enough to do this?

He was interrupted by the unhappy chirp of a hungry parasite. 

 

“Shut up, I don’t have any more food.” he irritate said to it out loud, still not knowing if it could hear him or understand him. 

 

It did seemed to sometime, maybe it only chose what to understand and not. He was only getting half the food rations his standard normally gave him, and that was without the added food he normally bought. He guessed getting proper food in the brig would mean more people ended up here on purpose to get a nice little vacation. Kraglin thought this was hell. There were nothing to do or look at, just four walls that looked the same except one had a small door. He was tired of thinking too much and nauseous from the irritated parasite squirming around in his stomach.  
  
He had planned to leave as soon as he could. But were to? He might as well start a new life here as anywhere else? He didn’t have any skills or education, the only thing he had right now was a fake ID because the rest of his few belongings had been sucked out in space. Apart from his bad luck lately and bad start with some of the people here he actually liked it. He could see great potential in learning things, see cool places he could never dream about and earn more money than he had ever seen. Plus, he did like some people here, like Tullk, and Yondu… and Keewau… which he didn’t know if he was alive yet. That thought made his eyes burn and he quickly focused on something else, he had spent last night with those thoughts spinning in his head anyway. 

 

He wanted to stay. Everything sucked but this was all he knew, his new home and his new family, despite all it stung when he visualized himself elsewhere. 

There never seemed to be a good opportunity to leave anyway, they always stopped on planets that was abandon.. or Kraglin was locked up the brig when they were at port. He wasn't sure they were yet though. The big engine had not worked properly last he heard and he couldn't pick up the vibrations in the brig when they move at half speed. Really, for all he knew he could be alone on the ship now, the world outside could had stopped existing and he would never know because he was locked in here alone. That thought was new, but it scared him more than any of the other ones had done. It came to close to the ones he had had back on his planet just when he had gotten out. You see, it’s not easy to travel between levels on his planets. You can come down easily enough but up? It’s not just to climb a ladder, you have to pass through borders with strict protocols and difficult regulations. Kraglin hadn’t gone through it, he knew he wouldn't pass. For 13 years he had watched people try and get taken away or killed. There were always someone, often young, that tried to defy the system. Kraglin was young too, he had also wanted to defy the system, he had also wanted to have it better. He had been jealous. But he had also been smart. One day he had just came to look on the pipes that traveled up to the surface, the pipes they used for the materials that they were mining. A plan had formed in his head, a crazy one but he had been young and had not been able to account for all the risks. He had spent the last six years on his planet with perfecting his plan. He knew he would only get one chance, he wasn't risking it by stressing it. He didn’t tell anybody about it either. Some people he liked, but if he wanted to live he could not take any risks. Telling about suspicious activities was rewarded, or they could try the exit for them self, and fail. 

Kraglin also had to wait because he wasn't tall enough yet. He had to grow a bit more before he could reach a ledge inside the pipe that would pull him up in safety from being crushed. 

 

So he had impatiently waited. He had worked the mines, it was the only job, but also because everyday he would go home and try to reach the spot he needed to.  
  
And then one day he had been able to.  
  
He hadn't waited anymore after that. He had gone home to his hole in the side of the wall that he had made himself, his heart hammering the whole way home. He had been so suspicious, looked over his shoulder, stared at people for any signs that they knew that he knew a way out. But everything had gone fine. He had laid down in his little hole stuffed with soft things, thinking that this was the last time he saw this place. He wouldn't miss it. Nana had died a few years ago and just last week two of his closest friends died in a mining accident. They were only a couple of years older than him, it could be him next time. There were nothing for him here anymore. 

He was laying still in his bed, staring one last time on the dirt roof. He was breathing hard, he had no idea what the future had in store for him. All he knew was that to get a better life, he needed to get higher. 

 

A couple of hours past and his level started to get quiet. It was nighttime, the lamps was turned down and things got darker than before. That was when Kraglin got up. He packed a small bag with the little water and food he had, and he took his knifes. 

With a last look at the underground town he grew up in he turned around and went back to the mines. 

 

With the help of one of his knives he opened a hatch to the pipe. He would need to be quick about it, he would need to climb far before morning, when the production started back up again. He didn’t really knew how the pipe would look further up but he was fairly certain that if a lode of mineded material was coming up and he was not out of the way, he would be crushed. 

 

He should not think about that too much. 

 

He started to climb. It was hard, he kept gliding down several times and he quickly got tired in his arms even if he had spent the last two years in the mines, using his arms everyday. The pipes had never been cleaned and material had clung to the inside and build up during the years of use. It made for better leverage but he also scraped himself several times. 

He had made it to the next level.  
He had looked out through a small ventilation hole and had seen a town that looked just like his. He had always wished to get a level higher but seen it now, he realized that he would not be better of here than on his own level. So he had continued on. 

 

He had climbed two more levels and they both looked just the same. He was resting on the last one now, carefully drinking some of his water. Growing up he had always heard that it would get better the higher you got, but, it didn’t seems so, it looked like they all was as bad off as his level had been. That was okay still he guessed, he really hadn't thought about staying down here, he was aiming for the surface, he wanted to see the bubbles the rich lived in. 

So he had continued to climb several levels more, his arms was aching so bad now it feel like they would fall off. It was hard to breathe too, this pipes was filled with dust that got caught in his throat. But when he had looked out through the next ventilation hole he realized that it was getting lighter and the level was waking up. That was not good, that meant the production would begin soon and it would not take long before the first delivery of mineded material would come whizzing from below and crush him. He guessed this level was good then. He could keep himself hidden during the day and climb back in when it was night. He went for a similar panel that he had gotten into on his level, only to discover that he could not open it from the inside. 

When he had realized his mistake, he started to panic. It got hard to breathe and he had tried to suck in more air by breathing faster. His grip started to slip because of the sweat. He couldn't get out. He couldn't get out. He was stuck, he was going to die as soon as the shipment came through the pipe. His whole body was shaking. He had to move. He had to move out of the way. Panicked he started to scale the pipe without any other goal than to get out. If he made it to the next level, then that panel maybe could open. He tried to focus on that thought, he kept climbing, but he needed to stop several times because he was getting light headed from breathing too fast and because he kept slipping.  
Every time he slipped he just wanted to sit down and cry, he was already crying, the tears made it hard for him to see where he should put his hands. He could hear that they had started the loading into the containers. A sound that had been comforting to him before, that meant everything was alright in the mines, but now it filled him with fear and dread, he pushed himself to climb faster. His energy soon ran out, and he had to stop to rest.  
He put his arm around a protruding pipe on the wall and spent some precious seconds on having a meltdown. No one could hear his hysterical crying. Trying to regain his breathing a thought appeared in his mind. It was a flash of golden, like something shiny catching in the light of the lamps. He was about to dismiss it, but then he move his focus to it and thought it through.  
  
The pipes was used to transport the mineded material up to the surface were it would be loaded in a spaceship and taken away. They loaded the material in big containers and they had to fill a certain quota every day. But they quota was calculated with the number of containers they send up, not by how much was in them. They were always cheating, of course they were, they always filled the container up just enough for nobody to be too suspicious about the weight. That meant, if he could open the hatch to the container just when it was loaded in, he might have enough space that he could crawl inside it and close the hatch back up… 

Kraglin senses snapped back to focus, his will to live overpowered the need to have a panic attack and he started to move up the pipe with a purpose. He had to be on the right spot, he needed to time it well, or else he would be crushed. He had a uncommon distribution of luck, but if he could just get a moment of good luck right now he would happily take a streak of bad luck for a long time coming. 

  
He hung just above were the container would enter for what felt like hours. He listened to all the sound he could pick up to know when it was time. He had worked in the mines, he knew the procedures, lucky for him, all the levels had the same ones. Finally he heard the deafening clunk when the container was pushed into the pipe. Without hesitating he dropped down on top of it. He quickly went for the hatch, it was hard when he was alone, he had to fight with it for a long time, feeling the panic rising at the creeping thought that he would not get it opened in time, or that this level had filled the container to the brim. 

 

It turned out, once he finally got the hatch opened, that this level really was the same and they cheated as much as his did. Without any second thought he climbed into it and closed the hatch. It was a tight fit, his nose was scraping the inside of the container. He was laying in pitch black, trying to breath slow to presume oxygen, and just waiting for the strong kick when they sent the container away. He waited and waited, all he could hear was his breath. The panic was there, he had to steel himself and focused on the cold surface of the container instead.He could not panic now, if he did, he would die. Then he heard it, the sound the pipes made just when it was about to shoot the containers up. He steeled himself for it, but the force with which the container moved up still took him with surprise. He was lying still with his eyes close, he couldn't move, he was being pushed down into the mineded material and he wished for all of his heard that the ride would be over soon. And then it was, with a swift enough stop for Kraglin to bang his head into the hatch and pass out. 

 

 

Suddenly there was a clunk that scared the shit out of Kraglin and he was brought back to the present again. Right, he was no longer on his planet, he was not stuck in that container anymore, he was at Stakar's ship, stuck in a cell in the brig, pretty much the same size a empty container would be. Someone had just opened the door, which was odd since the only ever opened the small little hatch at the floor to send in his food. 

 

“You are free to go” the person that had opened the door said to him harsh.


	10. They are back

Dazed, Kraglin walked down the corridor. He had been so lost in his memories that it was weird to be back on the spaceship. The memory off the smell from the minded material, the coarse texture on his skin when he slipped and scraped himself, it had been more real and vivid than this corridor was now. He felt like he had been stuck in the memory, like he just came back to the surface of reality, taking deep breaths but not really being able to shake the clinging feelings of the other life he had, like two timelines overlapping themselves and he doesn't know which one he belongs in. 

 

Food would help him ground himself. Also, he is starving and the parasite is pissed so he head over to the mess hall. When there, his is meet with the last stranglers leaving to get to their shifts

 

“Ha! Look, the rich kid is late again! The kitchen is closed moron!” someone shouted at him. 

 

Irritated Kraglin still went over and blipped his ID. Of course nothing happened, the kitchen was closed as they had said. The other thought it was really funny that he had tried anyway and started to laugh their asses off. They should really get another hobby, by now Kraglin was suspecting that they always hang out in the mess hall just after closure to laugh at all that came too late. 

Kraglin held his head high and with all purpose walked out of the room like he had just all along intended to check if the kitchen had done their job of closing the line for the day. The others didn’t interpret it as that and their laughter followed him for a long time. Irritated he worked his jaw, his second row of teeth had come out but he was not planning on ripping any jugulars right now.   
Dammit, he had needed that food. Just his luck to be let out just after the mess hall closed. If it now was just because of his bad luck, Kraglin thought bitterly, this might had been done on purpose… again. He had to pause suddenly, putting one of his hands to the wall and then another one on his stomach. 

 

“Stop it! You’re being spoiled, we have had less before, stop acting up!” he hissed at the parasite after it had clearly showed its displeasure of them leaving the mess hall without food. He stood still for several minutes to make the nausea go away and for the parasite to calmed down. 

 

He walked to his sleeping quarters, it was late and at least they had been nice enough to let him out just when he usually was going to bed. He could get a nights sleep in his own bed and then get breakfast in the morning. That would put him back on track and everything could go back to normal. 

 

It’s just, he forgot about the whole incident about his sleeping quarters being shredded to pieces by a canon. It was fixt now, the hole he had hasty helped seal up, and now they had had time to make sure it was safe to sleep in. It was just that his bed was no longer there. Right, because it had been sucked out in the void. Kraglin walked down alongside the rows of the bunk beds. There were fewer of them, more space in between but all of them were filled with other people about to go to sleep. It even looked like some wasn't even bunk beds from the beginning but repurposed scrap to fill the need of somewhere to sleep. 

 

“Ehm, excuse me?” Kraglin asked someone that was taking off their boots. 

 

“What?” they asked harsh without looking up at him. 

 

“My bed use to be here, do you know where I’m supposed to sleep?” 

 

“Everybody that survived got a bed assign to them so then it should be the one that is empty.” the other said grumpy and started to rearrange their blankets.

 

“But everyone is full?” Kraglin said discouraged and looked around again. 

 

“Well, then I guess they forgot you.” 

 

“They... forgot me?” 

 

“Stop babble or you will start hoping we forgot you.” the crew muttered irritated and put a pillow over their head. 

 

Kraglin wisely backed away for a bit. But then he just stood there unsure what to do. 

 

“Ah, wait, I recognize you!” the guy from behind him said. 

 

Kraglin turned around, it was actually the guy that he used to share bunk bed with but had the shift before him, he must have gotten different shifts after the attack. 

 

“I thought you were dead.” his ex bunk mate flatly said. 

 

“You thought I was dead?” Kraglin asked skeptic. 

 

“Well, you wasn't here. And you don’t look like much, so why do you sound so surprised? It was an easy mistake to do.” 

 

Kraglin just stared at him dumbly until he turned around and fell asleep.

 

Ah, great, he is left in the brig for a few days and the few that even remembers him thinks he died. How wonderful, everyone here really cares for him. 

Kraglin looked around. There were nowhere to sleep, and no extra pillows and blankets to have. At least it was no longer freezing cold in here. So in the end he demonstratively just plonked his bony ass down on the floor and made it his bed. It wasn't very comfortable, and even if it wasn't freezing it was still cold on the metal floor. It took a long time for him to fall asleep. Someone threw a boot in his head at one time because his stomach was growling too loud. He laid staring at the dirty ceiling, running his tongue over his third row of teeth, those that not yet was fully grown and still had skinn covering them. They were itching. His people back at his planet had always said that was a sign that they were ready to pop out. Kraglin himself was not ready for that. Xandarians did not have that many teeth, it would only be another thing that could expose him. He still hadn't got any control over his second row, they still popped out whenever he got scared or angry. Not that he had ever met anyone that really had fully control, but still, compared to a hormone ridden teenager they pretty much had. The third row was just ever used in serious situations, life and death sort of. He just hopped that he would never need them. 

***

Kraglin was starting to see that his life had became a comedy where he didn’t get the joke, so the person had to repeat it again and again. He tried his hardest, got it a little better, fucked up and then went down the progress ladder again to start it all over.  
  
Of course Raymento gave him the worst shifts again.  
  
Kraglin still wasn't sure if the man was out for him or he just thought Kraglin was a lazy spoiled brat and saw all his mistakes as proof for that and that he need to teach him to become a better ravager. It was really annoying because Raymento was his foreman, the person Kraglin should turn to if problems but the man was the trouble himself. Kraglin muttered irritated while scrubbing the goo out of a exhaust pipe that had clogged up due to excessive use during the after match of the attack. They hadn’t reached the planet yet so they could do proper repairs and everything was patching work and putting out fires. Aleta and her crew was still here but Kraglin had seen only glimpses of them, they usually hanged out in the officers deck or the bridge. Right now he was waiting for a good opportunity to press Raymento about the fact that he had been sleeping on the floor the last two days. Finally, Raymento came to check on his progress and he got his chance. 

 

“Yes sir, everything is going well, you’ll be able to use this as your mirror once I’m done.” Kraglin said to his foreman with fake confidence, if he was lucky it would be easier to use the water in the toilet as a mirror than the inside of them pipes. “Oh, by the way, sir?”  Kraglin continued and got up when Raymento was on his way away from there. 

 

The big man turned around and looked down at him irritated. Well, that didn’t bode well. 

 

“After the attack there was a mix up, someone forgot to assign me a bed, sir, and well, I have been sleeping on the floor. I just wondered if something could be done about it, sir? Kraglin asked and added a bit more innocence in his voice and demeanor. 

 

“I can’t do anything about that, the beds got sucked out in space, you’ll have to share with someone else.” his foreman grunt and started to walk out of there. 

 

Kraglin didn’t gave up that easy and used his long legs to catch up with the man. 

 

“It’s just that, sir, the beds we have left are so full there aren’t even room to share them.”

 

“As I said, Obfonteri, there isn't anything I can do. The beds we got is the once we got, we have already had to be creative about some of the replacements. With the half speed we are going to not blow the engine again we will be at port in two days, you’ll just have to manage until then.” 

 

Kraglin annoyed stood watching after Raymento’s gigantic back disappearing around a corner. That didn’t go to well… not that his foreman had seemed to want to help that much, but… he probably was right… But Kraglin could find some solutions to the problem, sneak into someones M-ship? They were probably already being used, there were a lot of beds missing. Maybe he could borrow a blanket from Yondu at least? He didn’t really need any with how warm his room was. 

 

But Kraglin never got to ask Yondu about any blankets, because when he was done with his shifts and had washed of the grime someone told him that the other ravagers was back, the ones that had left for the mission, the group that Keewau was in. 

 

***

 

As soon he heard, Kraglin ran to the docking bay. He hadn't gotten a hold on Keewau in several days, not since their group on the planet got attacked.  
  
He still didn’t know if he was alive. 

 

His heart was beating fast in his chest, not just because of the sprint to the docking bay but also because he was about to find out the answer to the question he had been avoiding all this time. There were a lot of crew here already, many wanted to know of their friends was safe. The crew that came back seemed tired and beaten, they had probably had a very rough time on the planet without being able to call backup. Kraglin couldn't see Keewau amongst them though. Panic he searched face after face of tired ravagers but none of them was his friend. He tried to keep himself calm, breath slowly, not thinking bad thoughts and patiently wait. But soon he found himself pushing through the crowd to have a better look. He still couldn't find him. 

 

“Ehm, sorry, but have you seen Keewau? Keewau?” Kraglin tried fugitive and got no answers from the tired men, pushing past him to go back to their deeply missed beds. 

 

The area in front of the M-ships started to emptying out now, people leaving and Kraglin still hadn’t found him. He really had to fight the tears now, silly him, he could cry when he had it confirmed that he would never see him alive, not now, not yet. Breathe deep. 

 

Suddenly his blurry vision focused on a stretcher being carried out. There were more people still left in the M-ships? Hurried he ran up the ramp, hardly daring to look to see if the person on the stretcher was alive, but unable to look away because it could had been Keewau on it. 

Inside the M-ship was several wounded ravagers that had been started to get help getting out and to the medical bay. Shit, they really walked into a trap didn’t they? But even if a lot was wounded, there were many alive. Kraglin just got to focus on that thought when he got out of the first M-ship to go look in the next one. He kept on looking in every M-ship that had come back from the mission but the line was dwindling fast, he had just a few left to check now. 

 

There was a mop of black braided hair.  
  
Kraglin nearly walked past the person in his panicked search and he had to backtrack when his brain registered what he had seen. 

 

“Keewau?” Kraglin asked with a weak voice and sank to the floor next to the stretcher. 

 

It was him, he was alive. 

 

Kraglin didn’t believe it at first, he had to run his hand over his friends pulse several times to make sure that he had got it right. Shit, he was alive, he was back. Kraglin sigh shakingly and trembling patted his friend's shoulder. He looked like shit and he wasn't conscious. He had a big bandage around his head too aside from smaller gashes over his arms. 

 

“Keewau?” Kraglin tried carefully. He would feel much better if Keewau would answered him. 

 

“Hey, move out of the way if you’re not helping with the carrying.” someone behind Kraglin said and he quickly got out of the way. 

 

The others that had come in grabbed the stretcher Keewau was on and started to walk out of there. 

 

“You’re taking him to the medical bay? How bad is he?”

 

“Do I look like a doctor to you?” one of the carriers muttered irritated. 

 

Kraglin followed them nervous like a fluttering bird the whole way to the med bay. They transferred Keewau to one of the beds, Kraglin guessed he had priority since he could not sit up with the others waiting on their turn. The doctor, a young woman with four arms and yellow skin, Kraglin wasn't sure what species she were, quickly did a first check of everyone that came in to see how she should prioritize. 

Since Kraglin wasn't hurt, he soon got pushed out off the med bay against his will. He had wanted to stay by Keewau’s side but there was just too many people. He needed to go to his next shift anyway, he didn’t have afford to be late anymore. 

  
***

The shift he had was the two hour one, but it felt like a six hour. The time dragged itself by, while Kraglin tried to focus on his tasks and simultaneous think about Keewau. His thought went from happy over the fact that his friend was back, and then to anxious about if he would ever wake up. When his shift was over he ran the whole way to the med bay. The place had calmed down a bit but there were still a lot of people that hadn’t gotten help yet. The doctor was busy so she could not shoo him away but her very blue eyes shot daggers at him when she saw that he was back. He smiled at her sheepishly and quickly scampered away to Keewau’s bed.  
He sat down on the edge of the bed, all chairs was taken, and looked at his friend. He was still unconscious but the doctor had had time to look at him, the bandage around his head was new and he had a needle in his arm that provided him with some type of fluid. Kraglin guessed it couldn't be that bad then if the doctor had looked him over and then left him be, she didn’t think he needed immediate surgery or something like that.  
He sank down more comfortable against his friend, shaping himself after his body. Kraglin hadn't realized it, but he had been walking around like a tight string for a while now and suddenly he got very tired. He might as well sleep here than on the floor in his sleeping quarters. 

 

***

 

Kraglin was sitting in the mess hall and eating his breakfast unenthusiastic. He had talked to the doctor in the morning about Keewau. He had some severe head trauma, apparently he was just asleep because the had given him anesthetic, he had been awake after the attack on the group had happened. The doctor talked a bit about Keewau needing to sleep to heal himself. Kraglin had a hard time following it since he still wasn't familiar with Keewau’s species so he just nodded and looked serious. They couldn't do much more than they had already done at least. The doctor did warn him that there could be effects from it, Keewau’s motor skills, vision and things like that could be affected by the damage on his head. Kraglin didn’t like that, but he decided that he could not focus to much on before they knew, Keewau was alive at that was the important part.  
  
They were getting close to the planet were they could get some better repairing done. They were in fact only a few hours away from in now and everyone was getting themself ready. The spirit was higher with the crew than it been in days. They had gotten their comrades back and did not have to wonder in uncertainty and they had reacted the planet safe without further attacks. Aleta’s crew did a lot to lift the spirit as well, they were formidable ravagers and everyone tried their best to impress them, both in the training room and in the recreation area, telling lewd jokes or swindling everyone in poker. Stakar had decided, that even of they did a stop not that long ago, it had been short ant that the crew needed a break after everything rough that had been happening lately.

So most of ravagers were getting leave time of the ship to go have fun on the planet they were stopping at to get supplies and do repairs. Kraglin was not one of them, of course he was not, because he had fucked up again and had been sent to the brig he was lowest on the list again, so even if it technically had been his turn to get some free time now, he was going to work the skeleton shifts again. It sucked, and it was unfair, he was so tired of it all, all the bullying from the others and all the mistakes he kept doing. His thoughts came fluttering back to Keewau constantly even if he had promised himself to not think about it. He needed to focus on preparing everything for the arrival at the planet. But he was exhausted, he just wanted to go back to the med bay and lay down next to Keewau again. Raymento was on him to whole time now too. His foreman was going of ship, because of course he was, and he didn’t want Kraglin’s sloppy work slow them down so he got less free time. Kraglin had a few acid things he wanted to say to Raymento when he was standing over him and yelling. But he didn’t. Because Raymento was really big and Kraglin was not interested in ending up in the brig again anyway. So Kraglin swallowed it all, gritted his teeth and redid the work he just done that Raymento had not approved. 

 

They stopped just outside the planets orbit. Someone went down to the planet to clear with everything, repairing a ship this size wasn't that easy, they needed to check first before they brought the ship down to the planet's surface. Kraglin watched the M-ship they sent became smaller and smaller until he could not see it anymore amongst the clouds. He should had been on it. 

 

“Hey? why are you standing here and sulking for?” Yondu's voice was heard from behind him. 

 

“Nothing, just watching the M-ship go.” Kraglin answered defensively without looking at him, he didn’t have energy for Yondu’s shit right now. 

 

“Ah, look, the rich brat did not flinch this time, maybe he is growing up and is learning not to be scared of the big bad ravagers anymore?” Yondu mocked him. 

 

It was obvious that Yondu was rallied up, possible from interaction with Aleta’s crew and the excitement for the stop. It was obvious that the centaurian was disappointed that he hadn’t got the reaction he wanted from Kraglin and was now pressing the situation to get what he wanted. Kraglin logically knew that, he did, but he was also really tired of all the shit right now. 

 

“Stop calling me that!” he snapped and turned against the centaurian. 

 

Yondu was tricky, his mood changed and sometimes he could be very tame and submissive but then at other times he would not let anyone walk over him. He was taken aback with Kraglin’s outburst, recognizing the seriousness of his tone, but he just looked at the boy with dead eyes and a disappointed face. It pissed Kraglin off even more. 

 

“I’m tired of being called the rich brat, I’m tired of always getting shit from the crew and the foremen. I’m tired of having to work for nothing and get punished when I try to do my best, it’s unfair! There is no point, it’s not worth it!” Kraglin ranted on, his second row of teeth was making it hard be clear enough to make his point. He continued muttering to himself, “I should just leave”.

 

That was the wrong thing to say. Because despite Yondu’s antics he was fiercely loyal to Stakar and his ravages, he would not stand and listen to someone talking trash about them. 

 

“Now, you listen to me, boy! We call you rich brat because that is what you are. I picked you up from that fancy ship and we accepted you as crew, we could just have thrown you off, be done with you. But we gave you a chance to learn to be a ravager, to be something more than your pathetic rich players that flies around in expensive ships and spend your parents money on buying shit you don’t need. You should be grateful that you get this opportunity! But you are not, because you’re lazy, you have to actually work here. You’re spoiled and ungrateful!” Yondu exploded and a terrified Kraglin suddenly had the collar of his still-not-leather-jumpsuit grabbed by the stronger centaurian that came up close to his face. Udonta’s implant was flashing irritated. “You rather just give up than to work for it? As soon as it gets a little bit harder you’re just going to quit? How do you think you’re friend going to react when he wakes up and realized you took the first M-ship off the ship?” Yondu sneered in his face. His breath was foul. 

 

Kraglin looked up at him in surprise. He hadn’t really meant it like that… he just, he had just… 

 

“Keewau is going to wake up and find out you ditched him and left for greener pastures?  It’s disloyal, to your friend and to your crew. You should be ashamed of yourself for even thinking about it.” Yondu said disgusted and pushed him off. 

 

Kraglin nearly fell backwards but manage to cache his balance. He had never been on Yondu’s bad side before, he had seen him use his arrow in battle but actually be in the direct focus of the centaurian’s anger? Kraglin really didn’t want to experience that again. He had right too, compared to his friend in the med bay his problems was really pity. What was not being allowed to have free time compared to maybe not being able to talk again, or walk or… or anything? He felt so dumb, he was pathetic and childish. He got it a bit hard and he wanted to quit right away.

But life was hard, you never got anything for free, and Yondu was right, this was a great opportunity they had given him, to be aloud to become a ravager. He was a nobody from a miningplanet, he had already achieved more than anyone on his planet could dream about.  He was ungrateful and spoiled just as Yondu had said. 

 

Kraglin looked down on the floor, unable to meet Yondu’s disappointed look. 

 

“I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t mean to… I’m sorry.” he muttered quietly. 

 

Yondu pulled a face, like he gotten something stuck in his teeth and tried to get it out. He turned around and walked away without any further acknowledgement. 

Kraglin walked beaten over to the others that was working on the last things before the landing. He was passive and worked quiet and hard for the rest of the entire shift.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh no, my boys! :(


	11. The treacherous swamp

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kraglin is a bit murderous in this chapter, if you don’t like descriptions of violence: note that you might want to avoid the action scene in the end of the chapter

Some time went by. Kraglin streak of unnatural much bad luck ended and turned to more normal levels. He had kept his head down and continued to work and people had grown tired of focusing on him and had moved on. That in turn had made his work days easier which in turn had lead to him actually doing a good job. Raymento wasn't a total asshole, he didn’t like Kraglin, but he did recognize good work and he started to give Kraglin less demeaning jobs.

Kraglin had been aboard the ship for more than 100 cycles now, that day had past without drama, just him telling Keewau that he had past the mark. Keewau was awake now, he had smiled and congratulated Kraglin but it had been without much energy. Keewau's head damage made him very tired and gave him easily headaches. Kraglin spent all his free time in Keewau’s temporary room, talking softly to him in the dim light, or just laying next to him scrolling through his new-old data pad that he had got as replacement for the one he lost to the void. This one wasn't nearly as good, it was slow and often froze so Kraglin had to reboot it. It was nice to have something to do at least when Keewau had to rest and was too tired to talk. His friend had been lucky despite it all, the doctor had said that he easily could have died or woken up and not being able to speak or walk. Things wasn't great though, Keewau had trouble remembering things and Kraglin noticed that his once steady hands was trembling. The doctor said it was damage to the nervous system, maybe it could fix it self, but they had to see, she had done all she could do. 

 

Kraglin didn’t sleep in Keewau’s bed anymore, now he knew his friend would live and Raymento had actually managed to lay his hands on some more beds which meant Kraglin got his own to sleep in now again. And he guessed Keewau thought it was nice to not always have him around hovering above him. It was with mix feelings though that Kraglin received the news that he, for once, was allowed to come with on a heist. Even if he left Keewau’s side for some hours to work and sleep it was different to go away on a heist and leave the ship for weeks… ok, a couple of day, tops, most likely half a day… but still. Stakar didn’t take on any big jobs right now, they needed to lick their wounds, but they still needed money, especially to fill the gaps the repairs had caused. 

 

He had talked to Keewau about it, told him he could fake to be sick to stay behind. Keewau had thought he was stupid so now he was instead on his way to the hangar bay to set off on said mission. He just had one quick stop to make, in the training room. It was empty at this time of the hour, especially before a mission, even if it was a small one. After what had happened on the last mission Kraglin was not going to take any chances and a empty training room made it possible to sneak in and borrow some things, like knives. He had been training with the guns as much as he had time but he still wasn't totally comfortable with them, and why not have both? So he tiptoed over to where they kept the training equipment and opened the door to their arsenal of knives. He wasn't sure if he was doing anything illegal, he was just borrowing them for the mission, he would had gotten his own ones if they hadn’t revoke his leave so he couldn't buy anything at the last planets they had stopped. 

He took several knives and put them away in any place he could find on his body. He was wearing his new leathers now, they had just gotten finished last night, finally, and he was still not use to where he had his pockets and all that. Still, it felt much nicer to have a protective layer of rough leather than a flimsy cotton jumpsuit, or something, going into a mission. The leathers wasn't that flattering on him, he wished miss Plymm had done some more for his shoulders. He had at least looked a little bit more impressive and intimidating than before. Keewau had looked really proud over him when he had showed up in it. It had touched Kraglin and had made him embarrassed. Keewau, never missing the chance to act like the big brother Kraglin never had, had noticed and said a even more embarrassing comment about the blue leathers matching his pretty blue eyes. Keewau had then proceed to laugh so much at his own joke that the doctor had heard him and had sent Kraglin away for disturbing the peace. Kraglin figured that if Keewau could make fun of him he was probably on his way to recovery. 

 

***

 

Their M-ships had touched down just in the outskirts of a run down town. This place was apparently the main capital of the small planet. Kraglin had been excited to see a new place until he got on the ramp to the M-ship and the smell of swamp hit him. At least the others said that the horrid stench attacking his senses was the smell of a swamp. To make the first impressions even better Kraglin had felt small droplets of cold water hit his face as soon as his feet touch the ground.  
That had been an hour ago.  
Now he was standing under the protruding roof of a building with a bored expression, listening to the pitter-patter of the ongoing rain. Their mission consisted of escorting one of the leaders of the planet to an important diplomatic meeting. The planet wasn't rich and was not far developed, thus far they had only afford to hire ravagers for protection, the nova corps didn’t come this side of the galaxy anyway. The delay was purely based on the fact that the person hiring them wanted to have time to go over everything before they headed out. Kraglin was guarding the door to the town hall, preventing anyone suspicious from entering. 

 

“Hey, seen any bad guys yet?” Yondu's voice was heard from behind.  
  
“Not apart from us, sir.” Kraglin answered bored but inside he was cheering because he hadn't flinch this time either when Yondu came up to him from behind. 

 

“You count us as the bad guys?” Yondu asked with a huff and stopped just next to him. 

 

The rain had now increased and it was hard to see through the mist of its falling, it was just a grey blur. Kraglin couldn't see any people, they were all huddling inside. 

 

“I don’t know, sir, it’s not like we do a lot of charity work.” Kraglin just answered and shrugged his shoulders. 

 

“Ha! Well, why do that when you can get paid for the job?” Yondu said and smiled his crooked smile, the one that have a tendency to catch his lip. 

 

Kraglin couldn’t help himself from smiling back carefully, the centaurian’s energy was contagious. He wasn't sure were he and Yondu was standing, last time they had spoken Yondu had been mad at him for whining and wanting to leave. But the centaurian didn’t seemed to be angry for long, or hold a grudge. Udonta was bored so he went out to chat with the guy outside, even if they had had a argument, that was now like water under bridges and he acted just like it never happened. Yondu seemed to always live in the moment and take it all like it came with enthusiasm. Kraglin wished he could be more like that, but he was the jealous sort that cataloged every injustice and stored it for later. It was relieving that Yondu wasn't the same, Kraglin wanted to be his friend, he was very cool and he looked up to him if he was being honest. He wished he one day could be as good as Yondu Udonta. 

 

They were chatting for a half hour or so, not about anything important, just easy talk about small things in life. It was nice to see this side of Yondu, the calmer one that was not loud and boisterous, but instead genuinely interested in what a nobody like Kraglin was doing in his everyday life.  
The door behind them suddenly opened and they turned around.  
  
“Ey, found you.” Tullk said peeking his head out from the inside.  “They are rounding up the meting now so we should get ready to head out.” he continued. 

 

“Finally.” Yondu muttered and Tullk gave him an amused look. 

 

“By the way, laddie, our employer asked me to send someone the tell the drivers too, so they are ready to depart. They are just around the corner of the building, be nice and tell them to stop here right outside.” Tullk added and turned to him.

 

“Sure, on it.” Kraglin said and got up from his half leaning against the wall. 

 

The other two headed inside and Kraglin walked out in the rain. It was a more finer drizzle now but still uncomfortable. He walked around the town hall and found several small hovering crafts waiting there. Nothing that could actually fly, or even less go to space, but he guessed they worked fine to drive over a swamp with. He couldn't find any drivers though. They must have sought cover for the rain. He walked around a bit to see if he had missed anyone and then headed over to a lower building that was conjoined with the town hall and that looked like a good place to seek cover for the rain. He could hear someone talk just up ahead and went up some stone stairs on a terrace with a roof. He came up a on a small balcony like thing and looked over the railing to the ground to see if it was anyone of the drivers that was on the other side. Underneath the balcony was a small courtyard that connected the backside of the town hall and the building Kraglin was on. One of the backdoors to the town hall was opened, so it was not one of the drivers that Kraglin had heard but someone from the town hall that had gone outside to make a private call. That someone happened to be a ravager. 

 

“They are finishing up now.” the person beneath Kraglin was saying.

 

Kraglin hasty ducked behind a big flowerpot. Something was off with it. He wasn't sure but his instincts told him to hide. 

 

“Yeah, get ready, they will moving out soon.” the ravager muttered quietly.

 

Kraglin had hard to hear him and didn’t had a good enough spot to see who the guy was talking to on his com. But something was fishy. Who was he calling? There were no reason to call their ship or anything, it was a small mission, they were not planning on having any contact  with Stakar and the others until they were finished. And he wasn't talking to the drivers since Kraglin got assign that task. There were something about the way he had said “they will” instead of “we will” that sent cold shivers down Kraglin’s back. He didn’t know who the crew in question was either, it wasn't anyone he could remember working with earlier. 

 

Before Kraglin managed to pick up much more the call was ended and the guy went inside. Kraglin stayed on his spot a while longer. 

What was he going to do with this? In truth he hadn’t much information, he had just been told to go on this mission and protect the diplomatic meeting from hostile interruptions. He didn’t really know what the other’s in the team had been assigned for tasks. He just had a bad feeling that something was wrong. That wasn't enough, not with his history of bad luck, he needed something solid. He thought for some more, then got up. He should follow the plan for now, tell the drivers they were needed and prepare for the departure. He should keep his eye opened for more aberration on the way. 

 

He found the drivers after a while, told them they were needed and then went back to the others in the town hall. All the time his eyes were going over everything and everyone and looking for something more that was off. He was told he was needed to load some crates they were going to use for the meeting so he went outside again and started to help loading the things into the small hovercrafts. He had wanted to speak to Yondu or Tullk about  what he heard but they were standing in the midst of everybody. He couldn't walk up to them and tell them something was off, if their employer heard, if he was wrong? He would be spending a lot of more time in the brig if that happened. So he kept loading the crates.  
Until just when nearly everything was loaded and ready and he saw the crew that had been making the call. He was on his way in the other direction, away from the rest of the group. Thinking fast Kraglin shouted after him. 

 

“Hey, could you help me with this crates? It’s too heavy for me.” 

 

The suspicious crew froze and irritated looked who had shouted after him. All the others turned round and looked as well. Kraglin didn’t like the attention he got, the team leader looked angry, wanting the ravagers they were in charge of to look professional. Kraglin gritted his teeth and pretended he hadn't seen that, right now their attention was the only thing stopping the other crew from sneaking out from here quietly. Also realizing this the other crew hasty stormed over to Kraglin and the crates. 

 

“What do you mean you can’t lift these crates? They weight nothing!” the man hissed quietly at Kraglin when he help him load the last boxes.

 

Kraglin looked into the man's reptilian eyes and just said, with the most bratty voice he could muster, “oh, they are heavy for me, I have never had to do much heavy lifting before, my parents had servants for that”. The other crew looked like he could murder him on the spot, but Kraglin’s trick had worked. He had put the man amongst them again, somewhere he clearly didn’t want to bee, and everyone had their eyes on them too much for him to sneak out again. That was why he had no other choice than to fuming get up into the small hovering craft when Kraglin put himself behind him to kindly let him up first. 

 

They headed out. For a random person it maybe looked like a entourage that was traveling to a important diplomatic meeting, but for Kraglin it was an ambush ready to happened. He kept his eyes peel all the time, trying to figure out what was going to happen and what to to. He kept a close eye on the suspicious crew and his body language. He was clearly nervous and had not planned on being on this vessel, but the others did not question his presence so they expected him to be there. T

hey had traveled for a couple of hours and Kraglin hadn't gotten a good chance of getting anyone to the side to tell about what he suspected was going on. They were traveling over the swamp now. Some part was water, some were land, and some  parts Kraglin wasn't able to decipher as anything than goo. They were getting closer to a bigger patch of trees when Kraglin noticed a change in the man he was watching. This was it, the thing that they had planned was going to happen now. He didn’t have anytime to waste anymore, no more time to come up with a solution that would not risk his own skin. Promptly he walked up to Yondu, talking and drinking with some of their employees colleges, and without further adieu, hit the glass he was drinking from out of his hand. Everyone, including the team leader and their employer, looked at him like he was crazy. 

  
“What the?!” Yondu started up. He did notice that they had all the attention however so before he could flip out he harshly grabbed Kraglin’s arm and pulled him out of there. 

 

The grip hurt but Kraglin had more important things to focus on right now. When they got out of earshot Yondu snapped his focus on him and shook him violently. 

 

“What the hell are you doing? Are your purposely trying to make us look bad?!” he shouted in Kraglin's face.

“Sir, listen to me, it’s important, we are going to get attacked.” Kraglin hastily tried to explain and ignored the spit landing in his face.

“What? Attacked?” Yondu asked and his angry face relaxed instantly and he looked dully on Kraglin.

“I overheard one of our crew, sir, I think he is the traitor, the one that’s responsible for the attack on our ship. I think his companions are going to attack us any minute.” Kraglin continued and looked out the window. They were getting close to those threes. 

 

Kraglin hadn’t really expected to be believed. He had expected to be dismissed as paranoid or something but Yondu just looked at him seriously. 

 

“Are you sure?” he asked sternly. 

 

“Yes.” Kraglin said with more confidence than he had. But he had a feeling that he was in his lucky period now, so he guessed he could take a chance. 

 

Yondu’s demeanor change and he went into battle mode. He nodded at Kraglin and then at the door and they both walked out of the small compartment they had holler up in. 

 

“The tree lines?”

 

“Yes, I think so, sir.”

 

“Continue to keep your eyes opened, and keep your gun ready.  Who's the traitor?”  

 

“The reptilian looking one, sir, I don’t know his name.” Kraglin muttered wile letting his hand rove over his gun. 

 

“Ok, I know who you mean. I’ll tell Tullk and the others. Stay on this side.” Yondu muttered and then disappeared fast in the other direction. 

 

Kraglin wished he had been given more directions than just “stay on this side”. He tried to be alert and to watch any signs of a ambush. He saw that Yondu talked to the team leader, they didn’t look happy. But then they reached the tree lines, and all hell broke loose.  
  
There were a explosion of sparks when a gun in the trees took their engine out. The hovering craft quickly lost its momentum and tipped down towards the ground. Thankfully this was a part of the swamp that was semi stable and less water so they crashed hard but Kraglin didn’t have to worry about drowning the first few minutes. Instead he got to worry about the slaughtering enemy fire they now was suffering from, from the trees. Yondu had had time to inform most of their crew and Kraglin saw them take their employer to safety while others returned fire. Yondu’s whistling was heard even before the first shot had hit them and had since then taken out several more targets. Kraglin didn’t want to be anything less so he put the gun on the railing of the craft and demonstrated his improvements from his time in the training room.

 

However, in his peripheral, he notice the reptilian traitor trying to make his way off the ship in the chaos. 

 

“Oh no, you don’t.” Kraglin growled and put his gun away. 

 

He jumped over a fallen crate, ducked when a stray shot nearly hit him in the face and rolled under the railing at the back left of the craft. His landing could improve but he didn’t let a face full of moss and leaves hinder him from setting after the traitor in full speed. This was the man after all that had nearly gotten him killed when he had tipped their enemies on where to find them on missions, nearly every bad thing that had happened to Kraglin since he met the ravagers could be blamed on that man. From him being taken hostage when the nova corps had unexpected showed up, running for his life from enemies on the planet with the artifact no one should have known about, to him nearly freezing to death after an attack on their ship.  
  
So Kraglin furiously hunted after the man. He used his long gangly legs to his advantage and skipped on rocks and and jumped over suspicious puddles. His prey was afraid, disoriented by a plan that had not gone accordingly. Kraglin could feel his second row of teeth popping down, he gladly let them, hardly feeling the ache that always came with letting them down. This was what they were made for after all, to sink into the pray once he caught him, to keep in in place or to maim, or both. Kraglin could even feel the third row wanting to come out too, a tingling sensation in his palate, a diffrent aching feeling. But he was still too young, they weren't ready yet. Shame, Kraglin was hungry for blood. Because the traitor had a lot to stand for, but the biggest one was Kraglin’s friend being hurt in the process. It was with that thought Kraglin fished out the first knife and let it fly through the air. He moved more by instinct than aimed and even before the knife hit it’s target, Kraglin knew he got him. A pain shout was heard, then a thud as a body lost balance and hit the ground. Kraglin slowed down his mad dash through the bushes. There were no need to hurry now, a knife through you leg usually made you a lot slower. Kraglin could have aimed for something more vital, end it quickly, but he didn’t want to.  
  
He found the man like he expected to, a panicked pile on the ground, desperately trying to crawl forwards with a knife sticking out from a bleeding wound in his leg. Kraglin approached him slow and steady, his calmness terrifying the man even more. The background faded to an unfocused blur and Kraglin imagined that he could hear the hammering heartbeat from the other. He cautiously worked his jaw, it ached from rearranging to let room for a lot more sharp teeth. He thoughtfully moved the second row so the teeth plinked against his first one. He hadn't let them out on a long time, to a afraid to be exposed as a non Xandarian. It felt thrillingly. 

The traitor fumbled with his clothes, looking for his gun, Kraglin let him for a while, to give him hope. Just when he got it out, Kraglin let his second knife fly and nail the man’s hand to the ground. There were a second scream in pain, it both scared Kraglin and edged him on more. There was a second attempt at the gun, but Kraglin had more knifes and the other only two hands. Kraglin stopped next to him just when he let out his third pained scream. Keewau had always looked after Kraglin, now it was Kraglin’s turn to look after Keewau .  He crouched down next to the man and looked at him with dead eyes, noticing all the details of him, from the embroiderers on his leathers to the old scar on his collarbone were his scales hadn’t healed right. 

 

“Please, please don’t hurt me, we are on the same team! We are on the same side!” the man pleaded panicked, trying to shield himself from Kraglin’s cold eyes. 

 

Kraglin huffed sarcastically and ran his knife into the old scars, twisting it for good measures. The man screamed but it wasn't as pleasurably to Kraglin anymore. The hunt was already over, he had caught his pray and it was weak. People always assumed Kraglin was a coward because he was easily scared and often flinched. But looking into the man's eyes, Kraglin knew he would have no problem killing him. He raised a fourth knife with all intentions of ending the traitors life now. But a sharp whistle was heard and the knife was knocked out of his hand. 

 

“That is enough, boy.” Yondu calmly said from behind him. 

 

Kraglin didn’t flinch this time either, he just got up slowly, working his jaw to try to get the numbers of rows of teeth go back to one. He had known that Yondu had been behind him, watching him silently. He had registered in the back of his mind that the centaurian had set after him as soon as he left the hovering craft. He had expected him to intervene sooner, but was still frustrated that he had done it at all. 

 

“It’s okay son, you did a good job, but others want a part of his fate too.” Yondu said grimly, now suddenly just next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. 

 

In doing so it was like he sucked all of Kraglin’s blood lust out of his body and he suddenly felt exhausted. He stumbled from the quick emotional roller coaster, but Yondu was there to catch him with a arm around his shoulders. He was so tired now and empty. It was like his hatred had burn away all of the other emotions inside of him. Tired he put his head on the centaurian’s shoulder and closed his eyes. 

 

“This is for the best, son. You are still young, boy, still naive. I wish you could stay that way forever, but I know it’s impossible, this world is filled with too much bad things.” Yondu muttered and carded his hand through Kraglin’s hair. 

 

They stood like that for a while, ignoring the pained sounds at their feet but not the sound of running feets coming their direction, Tullk shouting Yondu’s name. 

 

“Wake up, be alert. It’s ours that is coming, but we can never let down our guard, not even for them.” 

 


	12. What happened last night?

The others had caught up with them out in the swamp, they had been worried when three of their companions had suddenly set off into the wildness. Kraglin had been glad Yondu was there to explain why one of their own had three knives in him. The others hadn’t responded much better than Kraglin when they had understood that the man was the traitor. If Yondu hadn’t been there he would had been murdered by the mob. But Yondu step into the roll as a sensible leader and let his arrow fly against anyone that had something to object against his words. 

 

“We’ll take him back to Stakar and he will be trialed, we can’t murder him out here in the bush, that’s not the right thing to do. And it’s not right to the once back at the ship that lost someone. We have a mission to accomplish and we have to get back to the other if they need help.” Yondu said with authority. 

 

They all muttered in agreement and a couple of them grabbed the traitor and started to carry him away towards the hovering crafts. Kraglin followed quietly after the group. 

 

They came back without further incident and it looked like the other had done well. Thanks to Kraglin’s forewarning they had been ready for the attack and had taken out their attackers without much trouble.

 Their employer was shocked but very grateful, he got a evidence that it had been a good choice to hire the ravagers as protection from attackers. That the attackers had been after the ravagers and not him was it no one that bothered to inform him of. 

 

“Oh, one of you is hurt?” their short employer asked worried when he saw the hurt traitor between them. That they had “accidentally” hit him against everything they could find on the way there he had not noticed. 

 

“He is fine, it’s nothing but a flesh wound.”

 

“Are you sure? He have knives sticking out of him?” the man looked doubtful at the small puddle of blood forming under the man. 

 

“Sure, sure, this happens all the time on missions. Don’t worry, we are professionals.”

 

They had spent some time rearranging their packing into the other smaller hovering crafts, the biggest one that Kraglin had been aboard on was beyond repair after the attack. 

They did show up a bit late to the planned meeting. But when the counter party in the meeting heard about the attacks, their employer was really good at dramatic stories, they were easily forgiven and the diplomatic meeting could start.  
  
After that it was a lot of waiting outside closed door. They were offered food and Kraglin wasn't the one turning down a offer like that despite all that had happened. He hadn’t got any chance of trying other planets food apart from his year on Xandaria. The mess hall often didn’t serve much more than different variations off porridge for his pay grade. This food actually had spices. 

So he had shoved as much food he could managed down his throat and then stuffed his pockets full too. Tullk had smiled at him and jokingly asked if he should be worried Kraglin was going to eat him too. 

 

After the diplomatic meeting was over they took their employer back safely to the town hall and he paid them for their job. He even paid them more than they first had agreed upon because he had been very pleased with their job, the diplomatic meeting had gone very well because his opponent had dropped her hard attitude when she heard about the attack and they had actually for once been able to actually negotiate with one another. She had even added a little reward to them as thanks for ensuring that outstanding parties had not interfered with the meeting. Tullk had called it a bribe she had paid to show that she was free of guilt of the attack. Yondu called it units. Kraglin was just happy the mission was over and that he hadn’t fucked anything up his time. 

 

***

 

There was a trial. 

Kraglin had ensured that Keewau was with them so he could see the traitor that had caused his damage. Keewau had murder in his eyes just like many others of the crew. Kraglin’s blood lust had stilled and he just stood in a corner quietly next to his friend. They had interrogated the crew member already to find out about anymore traitors on the ship but he had acted on his own it seemed which was a relief. His companions that had attacked them was an unknown group to them that had been wanting to make a name for themselves in the criminal world. Apparently the traitor had joined just shortly before Kraglin had in the regard to gain as much info as possible about their movements and weaknesses.  
Their assailants had suffered a lot in the attack of the ship and loosing their informant would probably mean that the attacks would end now.  
  
The trial was mostly just official traditions, it felt like the decisions already had been made.  
  
Yondu was called to explain what had happened. He didn’t go to much into detail how they had known that he had been the traitor, no doubt had he already told Stakar this before the trial, but he made sure to mention that Kraglin was the one apprehending the fleeing scum. Kraglin hadn't expected to get any recognition for it, he had just gotten mad when he had seen him trying to escape. When the whole room turned and looked at him with positive mixtures of feelings he could not help to blush and feel uncomfortable at the attention. When the trial continued, Kraglin had felt a hand on his arm and a squeeze. He looked down on Keewau and saw him smile up at him. 

 

“Thank you.” he said quietly to Kraglin. 

 

Kraglin hadn't said anything but he had had a warm feeling in his chest that had felt really pleasant.

 

The trial ended and the traitor was sentence to death. 

 

***

 

Kraglin was sitting in the mess hall a week later, enjoying a pie with unidentified filling, most likely orloni, when he he notice that someone was staring at him. He looked up and was greeted by Yondu's face opposite of him. The centaurian was resting his head in his hand, elbow on the table. He had that dull look in his eyes that Kraglin had become aware not necessarily meant that he wasn’t interested or paying attention. It was more a way for him to crawl back into his mind and have his thoughts in peace. 

 

“Can, can I help you sir?” Kraglin said nervous after a while of awkward silence. Or at least awkward for him, Yondu looked perfectly content with the situation. 

 

“I don’t know. I was just thinking that I have never seen you practice with knifes before, only guns. But still, at the mission, with the traitor, your aim was perfect, better than many of us here. How come?”

 

“Oh? Um… Well, I just, used to train with knifes a lot on Xandaria, you know sir, before.” Kraglin said nervous and looked down at his pie again. 

 

“Uhhu? So when all the other rich kids was out partying you stayed back home and played with knifes?” Yondu asked questioning and raised his... eyebrows…. He actually had real brows? Kraglin had never noticed that, they were the same color as his skin but as close as he was now Kraglin could see that there was actually hair. 

 

“Focus.” Yondu irritated said and snapped his fingers in front of Kraglin’s face several times. 

 

“Sorry sir.” Kraglin mumbled sheepishly. “Uhm… well, I… I have never been much for  partying really… I guess. The knife thing is just… just a hobby I have had for some years.” he continued remembering that the centaurian asked him a question. 

 

“A hobby? I know I guy that collects rocks, but your hobby sound way cooler!” Yondu said over dramatic.

 

Kraglin was suspecting that he somewhat made fun of him but he didn’t know how to handle it.

 

“Hey! Guess what I just heard!” Tullk’s voice suddenly cut through their conversation. 

 

The man dumped himself down next to Yondu and reached for Kraglin’s half eaten pie. Now, Kraglin was not finished with that so without thinking he picked up his fork and with lightning speed jammed it down in the table, just millimeters in front of Tullk’s reaching fingers. 

 

“Woha, relax laddie, I thought you were finished with it. Don’t worry, I won't take it then.” Tullk said jokingly holding up his hands disarmingly, trying to brush over the tense mood that had suddenly arose. 

 

“Why are you trying to steal the boy's food in the first place anyway? The fucker is skinny, he needs his protein. What was it you heard?” Yondu said annoyed and buffed Tullk with his shoulder. 

 

“I heard that Martinex managed to convince Stakar that we should swing by the B14-FR moon today. Small place but I checked with the others and they say it’s a gem when it comes to cozy bars you can sing your throats sore in, it’s supposedly cheap too. Not much in the way of hookers. It’s payday today and I don't know about you, but I’m thirsty.” Tullk said with the look of mischief on him.

 

Kraglin wondered if there was any betting going on right now, he would be willing to bet whole his pay check on that Tullk would be very drunk at the end of the night. He had gotten extra paid from the successful mission too so that was not a little. 

 

“Well, now that you mention it, I’m also very thirsty.” Yondu said with a glinting smile. “How about you, bean pole, are you going to join us tonight or are you going to check out if collecting rocks is  more interesting hobby than knives?” 

 

Kraglin swallowed the insult and checked his schedule. He was expected to be on the skeleton crew because, that was what he had been on whenever they were going planet side. 

That was why he had to check his schedule again after just reading it. 

 

“Hey, wait, I’m actually free this time?” he asked surprised after reading it again. 

 

“Why sounds so surprised? But great, you’re with us then.” Yondu said and gave him a big smile that did not bode well. 

 

***

 

They were only stopping for a short while, the stop had not been planned, but Kraglin was going to make the most out of it. This was his first really stop and he was in a good mood. He was probably the loudest of their small group, Yondu and his team. The others made fun of him for it but the just laugh in their face like he didn’t care, he didn’t really. They headed for a bar in the more quieter areas with small backstreets and less shops. Kraglin was surprised, he had thought they would found the best place on the main road but they had all insisted this was a real gem and that he was not aloud  to tell anyone about it. 

Kraglin skeptical looked around in the deserted back alley, shrugged his shoulders and went inside.

This place was cozy, if you could ever say that about a nightclub. The light in the place was all warm and yellowish, plenty of soft sofas was thrown haphazardly all over the place and a nice beat was going on, not too loud to not talk about still enough to have people at the dance floor. The ambled away and occupied a whole section of sofas while some went over to the bar. 

They came back with gigantic jugs of something drinkable and cups for all.

“How much?” someone in the group asked. 

 

“5 units each.” one of the bringer of drinks answered. 

 

Everyone suddenly started to type away on their watches or data pads or whatever and their was several pings heard. Oh, right, they were paying him for it, that made sense. Kraglin just didn’t know how you did that, he had never really had enough money to actually send it to someone. He discreetly fiddle around with his watch but all the help guide was still in Xandarian so he couldn’t figure out most, he had learn by memory the things he used in his daily work. 

 

“Do you have a problem?”

 

Kraglin looked up, and it was that same guy that once had helped him order food on his watch when he hadn't been aboard the ship for long, the 56 region person with the mushy face and eyes that made you uncomfortable to look at for too long. He was on Yondu’s team, Kraglin had spoken to him from time to time in passing, apparently he was their tech guy. 

 

“Eh… yes.” Kraglin confessed sheepishly and held up his watch. 

 

“You just push this button here, search him up, or, as I already know his number, enter it here. You type in the amount and then, send. Done.” the tech guy said happily.

 

Kraglin at least thought he was happily, his somewhat shapeless face made it hard to read his expressions. He tried hard to follow the steps and memorize them so he could do it on his own the next time. 

 

“Thanks!”

 

“No trouble. Now, let's do what we came for, lets get shitfaced.”

 

Kraglin downed his comment about “You can’t become what you already are” with a gigantic gulp of the drink. He started to cough and the others laugh at him but it was better than them hearing his mouth diarrhea saying something rude. Sometimes he didn’t know were he got things from, he just open his mouth without being aware about it and his head made this weird connections and he said shit he should not say. He needed to learn how to only say important things that contributed to the conversation. Therefore, he took another gulp of spirits and let the others do the talking. 

  
Several gulps later and Kraglin was starting to get drunk. He had never been drunk before so it was a very interesting feeling. It had started as his legs feeling heavy, and then he had gotten warm and, according to the others, very talkative. The background disappeared and he could mostly just focus on what was in front of him. He wouldn't say he enjoyed it per say, he didn’t quite understand yet why people enjoyed it so much. He liked to keep an eye on his environment, he had always needed to how his life had been up to now. But here he had a team of ravagers at his back, he felt at least a little bit like he was protected in this little bubble of the universe consisting of bad breath, loud laugh and horrible singing. Yondu’s team was a group of nice guys, Kraglin had a lot of fun with them. Some of them had broken of and gone to the dance floor, some was waiting in the insane line to the bathroom and some, like Tullk, had chosen to sit up at the bar and chat with some outsiders they apparently knew.  
  
Yondu was still sitting by his side the the sofas they had conquered. He wasn’t that drunk yet even if they had emptied a lot of big jugs and was now down on personal drinks. Kraglin had pointed at a name at random on the drinking list when one from the crew took orders to take to the bar. He had not known that it came with a lot of extravagant addons like umbrellas and a sparkler and some other things. It had been a nice drink though, he wanted a another one. Or maybe he should try something different again, there was so much to  choose from. 

 

He left the group and went up to the bar. He made some awesome killer moves to the music on the way, winked at some people that giggled at him and then whistle for the bartender's attention. The last one had maybe been a little too much, even more embarrassingly was the fact that he had tried to imitate Yondu’s whistling. Lucky he was still left in the sofa. 

 

“What do you want?” the bartender said irritated. 

 

Note to self, don’t whistle after the bartenders like their are dogs. 

 

“Hey! I want something like that crazy thing with umbrellas and sparklers, just less crazy because I just nearly choked to death when I accidentally got that umbrella in my mouth. A real hazards those umbrellas, mhum mhum...” Kraglin said cheerfully. 

 

The bartender looked at him suspiciously and Kraglin didn’t understand what his problem was, he just wanted another drink. 

 

“Can you show your ID?” the bartender asked with frosty tone. 

 

Now Kraglin got his problem. With cocky confidences he fished up his fake ID and handed it over. He was expecting to see a disappointed look on the bartenders face, disappointment that he could not kick him out because the ID said he was legal. However, the bartender took one scrutinizing look at the ID and handed it over to Kraglin without a word.  
  
He knew. 

 

Shit, he knew. He knew it was a fake ID and that Kraglin was not 18. Kraglin carefully backed away while the bartender stared at him the whole time. He didn’t seemed to want to do more than to deny Kraglin the drink, probably because he was drunk already of the drinks they had sold to him, and because he wore the blue leather of Stakar's ravager clan. 

 

Beaten Kraglin walked back to the sofas. The bartender was the first one that had got that he was not 18, but then, he probably saw fake ID’s all the time. It put a damper on Kraglin's mood. Not only did he not got his drink, he also got paranoid and started to worried that the others would figure it out. They would be so mad at him, ravagers did not deal in kids. He had actually started to like it here, he didn’t want them to drop him off at the closest orphanage. 

 

“Wasn't you going for another drink?” Yondu asked surprised when he got back empty handed. 

 

“Oh, I changed my mind… I was more drunk then I thought sir.” Kraglin quickly lied. It was only a half lie too, that crazy drink with sparklers and umbrellas had apparently a slow but deadly affect and he was actually starting to feel really drunk now. 

 

***

 

Maybe it was for the best that Kraglin never got that last drink because he wasn't sure were he was when he woke up. He wasn't in his bunk bed, that was for sure, this bed was too comfortable. with barely open eyes he ran his hand slowly over the fur under him. Everything about this was somehow familiar? The fur, the smell of the room, the snoring sound, it was all like a half forgotten dream. He turned around and was met with the horrible image that was Yondu Udonta asleep the day after a drunk night. Kraglin was transfixed by the long line of unbroken drool that hanged from his mouth until his brain had finally gone through the whole archive three times, taken some time to danced some conga and then coming back to the archive again to finally find the memory of this room and play it for Kraglin. This was Yondu’s room. Excellent conclusion brain. His brain then played the second memory that explains why this supposedly nice room made Kraglin have a bad feeling. Ah, you’re right brain, last time we were here it was because we had nearly frozen to death in that corridor and afterwards we got thrown in the brig because we overslept. It was after the obvious failed reaction to that memory his brain remembered it could induce him with adrenaline and panic. Stressed and with a beating heart Kraglin took out his schedule while he prayed that this was not a repeat.  
  
Three hours until his shift started? Really? Kraglin had to blink his tired eyes and look again. Huh, three hours… he guessed he was on his lucky period then. 

 

“What… what are you doing?” a tired voice was heard next to him. 

 

“Just checking my schedule, sir, I thought that I would begin my shift soon but it's another three hours.” Kraglin said cheerfully. 

 

It was too cheerfully for Yondu who turned around on his stomach and put a pillow over his head. 

 

“Of course, we got the long leave.” he muttered tiredly. 

 

But Kraglin had gotten too distracted by the scars on his back to listen to what he said. He had never seen Yondu without his clothes on, at least not from behind. Several light blue thin scars was littering his back, implying things Kraglin had never thought about. But the most disturbing one was the big one that went from the red thing on his head down the whole way along his neck and down his spine. It wasn't a nice scar, it wasn't made carefully, only to as fast as possible remove something. Kraglin looked back up at the red thing on his head, somehow imagined that it always had been a part of Yondu, but at the same time, that it not always had been there. He didn’t understand what conclusion his brain tried to make. The scars made Kraglin uncomfortable, like he was seen something he wasn't supposed to see, that if Yondu just had been more awake, he would had chosen not to show them. He looked away but the knowledge of them sat heavy in his stomach. He had a lot of respect for Yondu, he looked up to him, nothing could defeat him. But the scars somehow destroyed his image of him, they showed that he had a past, that he was a person like anybody else and that he could get hurt. Kraglin didn’t like that, he wanted Yondu Udonta to be the invincible badass that he saw him as. 

 

“Do we have our clothes on?” Yondu suddenly asked under his pillow. 

 

Kraglin’s brain did a 100 to 0 stop on the thoughts of wanting to watch the centaurian back to make sure he always could be the badass guy, to down in the very embarrassing lane of thoughts that he might just had had drunk sex with the man he looked up to. 

 

Ripping of the band aid fast Kraglin lifted the blankets and checked. 

 

“You’re in your underwear sir, with one sock on. I still have my jumpsuit on… and my shoes…”

 

So, no drunk sex, catastrophe evaded. 

 

“I mean, it could be possible that we-” Kraglin began after thinking for a while but got interrupted by a blue hand slapping over his mouth. 

 

“We have our clothes on, case closed, we don’t go digging to look for trouble.” Yondu muttered warningly and turned to him. 

 

Kraglin nodded quickly and Yondu removed his hand from Kraglin's face and got to a more comfortable positions in the bed. They laid like that for a while, just chilling in the early morning. It was nice with some down time, everything was often hectic, and if not the foreman usually made sure it was. 

 

“Sir?”

 

“mmm?”

 

“Why am I in your room?” 

 

“Oh, you past out on the way back to the ship, fucking lightweight, we had to carry you. I was going to put you in Stakar’s bed as a prank but I guess I must have forgotten it on the way there.” Yondu said yawning and scratched the stub on his cheek with his long nails. 

 

“You were what!? That would had put me in so much trouble! Are you crazy?” Kraglin said upset and looked at him accusingly. 

 

“Aw come on, it would had been a funny joke. Stakar would had thought it was hilarious.”  

 

Kraglin gave the centaurian a skeptical look but he noticed that it did not bit, Yondu was convinced he would had succeeded with the prank of the century if he had only remembered were he was going. Kraglin really was in his lucky period now because only that could have made Yondu been able to drink enough to forget the most crucial detail of his plan.


	13. Welcome to the jungle

Since Kraglin had done so well on the last mission he went on, he got pulled for the next big one. Now Stakar dared to take on big once again since they had found the traitor and had spent the last 29 cycles to root out all of his accomplices. It had both terrified and excited Kraglin to see the ravagers ruthlessness. He was glad he was on their side. 

 

He was sitting in Yondu’s M-ship on the way down to the planet where their next heist would be. Kraglin had planned to get onboard another M-ship but Yondu had come by and said he wanted him close on this one because he was not the team leader and the team leader they had was an idiot that should not had been team leader, Yondu’s words not his. And because he wanted to see more of Kraglin’s knife action. Kraglin didn’t care what M-ship he was on, they were only using them to get down to the planet, so he just said ok. 

He somewhat regretted it because Yondu’s landing was rough and he grabbed his seat hard until he was sure they were standing still. 

 

Wobbly he sat down his foot on yet another planet he had never seen. He looked around and all he saw was trees. He gaped with his mouth open at the lush green that surrounded him. He had never seen so much green in his life. Colorful explosions of flowers broke up the different shades of green here and there but it still was such a huge difference from his own planet that he had hard to take it in. There weren't any green on his home planet, just rock and dirt mix up whit the rusty industrial that came with being a mining planet. His first day at Xandar had been mind blowing because of the parks that was spread out over the planet. He had legitimate spent his first days just staring at flowers, petted grass and gushed over the realization that he could actually see a sky.  
But that had been small controlled parks. The last planet he had been on, the swamp planet, had had vegetation in a bigger scale. But it had all been grey and brown and sort of disgusting and had not really been selling it. But this, this planet, this was really vegetation. The couldn't travel by M-ships because the vegetation was so dense they could not see their target or, let alone, land anywhere.  It was so humid it felt hard to breathe, nearly liked he tried to breathe underwater he imagined. 

  
They walked in a line after each other, the first cutting a way for them through the thick bushes. Kraglin was walking in the end of the line, with Yondu behind him. Kraglin’s head was flipping from one side to the other to take in all the green and beautiful colorful flowers. 

Yondu laugh at him, he thought his wonders look, looked funny. There were tiny colorful birds flying between the colorful flowers, lapping nectar with small tongues. The birds was not afraid of the newcomers, the fascinated zoomed between the ravagers. Kraglin ducked nervously when one of the birds flapped a little bit to close for his liking.

 

“Have you never been in a jungle before, boy?” Yondu asked laughing, he thought it was funny that the city guy came out “on the countryside”.

 

“Can’t really say I have been, no sir,” Kraglin flustered answered and trudged on. 

 

They walk for a long while through the jungle, or like Kraglin, stumbled through it. He was not use to roots and low bushes and he swore they were moving on their own accord in front of his feets to tripp him! He cursed when he nearly fell face first again when his foot got snagged. Yondu’s laugh was following him the whole way through it. 

 

“Please, please, stop stumbling, I can’t take it anymore, I’m going to die of laughter!” Yondu wheezed when Kraglin had to get up from the ground after missing the next root. 

 

“It’s not funny sir!” Kraglin said irritated while he picked leaves from his leathers. 

 

“Aw, Kraglin boy, it is, it really is, you should be a comedian.” Yondu sniggered and messed up his hair in an attempt to get the grass out of it. 

 

Kraglin muttered disagreeing, adjusted the holster for the gun and continued to walk. 

He didn’t get far before there was a sound of breaking twigs to the left of them. 

 

“Sir… what was that?”

 

They peered into the jungle and saw something furry and big walk a couple of hundreds of meters away from them.

 

“Sir, what is that?” Kraglin asked slightly worried. 

 

“It’s an animal.” Yondu just said unhelpful. 

 

“Those a some really big animals, sir.” Kraglin said more concerned when he saw that their was more than one. 

 

“Well, better don’t disturb them then.” Yondu just said neutral. 

 

Kraglin continued walking, unable to not constantly look for the animals. He only got a couple of meters before the bushes next to him move violently. He screamed and threw himself to the side, convince that there were another one of the animals charging at them. 

Hysterical laughter was echoing through the jungle and Kraglin looked up at a team of laughing ravagers from his spot on the ground. The charging animal had turned out to be Tullk that had hidden in the bushes to scare him. 

 

“Arugh, I’m a dangerous beast.” Tullk said and held up two leaf as fangs in front of his mouth. 

 

Some of the crew that still hadn't lost their shit, lost their shit. Their laughing brought the attention of the team leader. 

 

“What are you doing?” they asked irritated when they saw the pile of grown men on the ground, laughing so much they were crying. 

 

“City boy here is afraid of the wildlife.” one of the crew said and pointed at Kraglin that could feel his whole face heat up by embarrassment. 

 

“Laddie, you’re turning awfully blue?” Tullk asked strain with laughter. 

 

“Okay, lets calm down now, we have a job to do, get your shit together.” the team leader said irritated and left them to get in the front of the group again. 

 

“The team leader seems to have some wildlife stuck up their ass.” Kraglin muttered without thinking. 

 

More roaring laughter was heard that echoed through the jungle. If there had been any animals around they would have left in panic by now. 

 

***

 

Kraglin had thought it had been humid before, but as the day past the humidity went up. So did the level of insects that saw Kraglin as a snack. Furiously he waved away a swarm of mosquitoes that tried to find a way inside his sweaty leathers. He had already been bitten several times. Flies was swarming around their stinky bodies and Yondu had picked a big leach of him that had fallen from the trees. It felt like it was crawling all over Kraglin's body. He was too hot, hungry and tired and really really done with this planet.

 

“Stop whining, you sound like a spoiled brat.” Yondu complained when Kraglin had lost it a bit when he trip over yet another root. 

 

Kraglin wasn’t spoiled, he had just come to the conclusion that he wasn't made for the jungle. Yondu on the other hand moved like they were on a nice Sunday walk and everything was pleasant and perfect. He seemed to float over the roots Kraglin tripped on, see the humidity as preferable and oh, the insects was a nice protein snack. 

 

“Sir, please, please don’t eat that.” Kraglin said disgusted when he realized what the centaurian was about to do. 

 

“Why not?” Yondu asked with a big fat orange larva in his hand, halfway to his mouth. 

 

“What if it’s poisonous?” 

 

“It’s beasties boy! The best snack you can get! Not many places that sells them, even fewer were you can find this buggers alive in the wild, mostly just farm grown.” Yondu said and popped the thing in his mouth. “I prefer the wild ones, more flavor.” he continued with juices running out of his mouth. 

 

It both made Kraglin want to vomit and go look for one to eat himself. This was one of those moments were what he thought and what his parasite thought was two very different things. The wanting to eat the worm thing was the parasite's thought, just to clarify. 

 

“Sir, aren’t we stopping for food soon?” Kraglin asked hopefully when the centaurian managed to find another one. 

 

“Yeah, we are almost at the clearing, should just be another half an hour or so.”

 

So they continued to walk. Kraglin try to keep his eyes on the treacherous roots and keep his whining to a minimum, but oh, how much he missed the smooth surfaces of metal back at the ship. The cool corridors and the chill sleeping quarters with a nice pillow for him to rest his tired body. Why did he always whined up on the missions that involved walking and nature? What about the cool missions were you were robbing a place, like a spa resort preferably, or a mission were you was breaking in and left again without no one being the wiser? Okay, fine, he knew why, because they took what job they got and, more important, those mission required a bit more finesse that he lacked right now. He wasn’t even on the offensive team on this mission, he had camp duty again. That was why, when they finally arrived at the clearing they had planned out beforehand to stop at, he was helping to set up a small camp and prep dinner while Yondu, Tullk and company moved out to rake the area. 

 

Kraglin was bored watching the water so it didn’t boil over the kerosene stove when they came back. 

 

“We saw them, their a close from here, this spot was a good pick.” Yondu reported to the team leader. 

 

“Good, we eat, rest and then plan our next step.” they answered with a nod. 

 

***

 

The technical stuff went over Kraglin’s head, but he tried to listen and take in when the other ravagers quietly talked tactics hunched over a holoimage of the jungle Yondu’s team had made in their scouting. Their mission this time was a small, but very important, outpost hidden here at the planet. This outpost was owned by a group of, as of late, very successful smugglers. This mission was partly because they intruded on the ravager's  territory and because they wanted the shit they had. So they were here to take their stuff and cause as much damaged as possible, preferable leave enough leads for rumor to spread that the smugglers was taken out by ravagers. Taken out as being dead Kraglin had realized and he felt a bit uneasy about that, this was the first mission he was on that they with intent tried to kill someone, all the other deaths they caused had been in self defense because they had been attacked. Kraglin’s roll in it all was to take care of the camp and to place out small boxes around the jungle. Small boxes of explosives that was. Kraglin was less faced with that, he had already handled some explosives in his life in the mines, and the ravager ones was not the homemade sort but the bought (more like stolen) kind that came with instructions and safety warnings and everything. 

  
The offensive team was resting while Kraglin and his defensive colleagues was cleaning up after the lunch. After that they gathered up the explosives and moved out. They split up two and two and the other guy Kraglin was with read the map and pointed to where they were supposed to put the things and Kraglin put them down and rigged them. They placed them strategically around the jungle, on all the places Yondu and his team had found tracks of their target. The tracks was sort of obvious because the smugglers had made a way through the jungle and cut down just enough vegetation to be able to get through with a small hoveringshipper, probably something like the ones the ravagers used between their M-ships and storage rooms. A good thing to transport smuggled goods for through a jungle.

The explosives could be triggered with remotes and they was going to push the buttons when the smugglers was close enough. The team leader had the most of the explosives on their remotes, the explosives marked with blue. But Yondu had some too, the red ones, and the other group placed out green and yellow ones for two other remotes. They did place out all of them. They were here to cause mayhem and destroy their outpost so why not? They could always pick up the once they didn’t use. 

 

“Here’s the next spot, take a red one.” the other guy whispered.  
  
  
They needed to be quiet, the smugglers was very close by, they had actually had to hide for a while when they had rigged some blue ones. 

 

“But didn’t Yondu say that this was not a good spot? He wanted it over at the right side, at that small track he found?” Kraglin asked confused. 

 

“Yeah, but Udonta is not the team leader. He is welcome to use his expertise for input but it’s the team leaders decisions, and they say we put it here. It's smart, this place is big and used so they will probably come this way, just as the team leader said. Who cares about a small track off into the jungle? It’s probably were they piss or something.” the other guy said irritated.

 

Kraglin didn’t want to argue, he hadn't even planned to say something but as usual he had opened his mouth before thinking. Quietly he put a red one down were he was told. 

 

After they were finished they headed back to the camp. The four of them was left to guard the place while the others loaded up as much of the ammo they could carry and headed out. Kraglin put the lid back on the rest of the ammo boxes and stared after them. He was jealous that he was not allowed to do the cool things on the mission. But at the same time, when the yelling, gunfire and explosives started to go off he was sort of glad for not being there. Maybe when he got some more experience he could be out there, but he still didn’t fully trust his skills with a gun. He had packed some knifes at Yondu’s request. Yondu had told him he should get his own, it wasn't good he borrowed the training ones. Kraglin agreed, they weren’t that good and also heavily abused after years of training by inexperienced ravagers that much rather used them to cut some ham than to actually hit a target with them. If he did the mission well he could start saving some money so he could do that. 

 

***

 

A lot of things was going on in the smugglers camp. The ravagers had taken them by surprise but they were unexpectedly good and put up a fight. There had been some initial chaos but the ravagers had soon lost the surprise element and the smugglers had started to return heavy fire. Explosions went off from time to time when the smugglers tried to bring back some vehicles that looked specialized for the jungle. The things was small but packed a lot of firepower that they got to taste of when one of them got through a path without explosives. Yondu managed to get to the driver and kill him with his arrow but not before one in their team had lost their life.  
  
So it would be one of those kind of missions, Yondu thought bitterly.  
  
He whistled again and took out two other smugglers that was half a second from blowing the brains out of the team leader, damn idiot. They didn’t look thankful either, just irritated that they got saved by Udonta. Yondu turned around and focused on another target.  
  
This chaos really brought back memories, the scream, the smell of plasma bolts, the sound of his whistling and a second later, the sound of the arrow piercing someone's body. This was not much different from what he had done for the Kree for twenty years. But to him it was a huge difference, because he was doing this willingly. For every target he took out it was a small repay on his debt to Stakar. Even if that debt, according to Yondu, never would be able to be repaid, he still like to be able to repay some of it. A part of him thought it was thrilling to be back on a battlefield again too, it got too slow on the ship sometimes. Still,their was a voice in his head that poked his attention, the path he had found bothered him. It had not been well used and a single line of boots had made it, nothing big had past over it. Still it tingles in his scar, the place were his implant ended and the Tahlei should had continued. He soon got something else to think about though, when the smugglers got desperate and drove the vehicle through the thick jungle to avoid the explosives. Some of them crashed on the way, but some of them made it through. One in the defensive team came running with refill of ammo and Yondu’s colleagues gratefully reloaded while he protected them with his arrow. 

 

“Udonta, we need more explosives, we need to move the ones that are left!” the team leader shouted to him while simultaneously blowing the head of one of the smugglers. 

 

They look nervous, Yondu thought. The mission wasn't going that great, they had already lost three men, so Yondu guessed he understood why, it was never fun to be the team leader on missions that didn’t go as expected. Yondu still had some explosives left, the team leader had place all theirs close to the camp to make sure they got to activate theirs, Yondu’s was on the more further and less probable places to be of use. 

 

“Call the defense team, have them move them to the left side of that rock! We need to take out those vehicles!” the team leader said once they had managed to get closer to the centaurian.

 

In his peripheral, Yondu saw some of the smuggler's run away, towards the track he had seen before. The tingling in his scar intensified, that was not good. He didn’t know why, but the fact that the smugglers in the middle of a fight ran with purpose out in the jungle on a small track that supposedly led to a good pissing spot put him on edge. 

 

“Sir, we can take those vehicles on our own, we need to move those explosive to the right side of the rock instead, on the track.” Yondu suddenly said. 

 

“What? Are you talking about that stupid track again? Udonta, I know Captain Ogord value your knowledge highly, but I’m in charge of this mission and we are not in a position for you to question my orders. Do as I say!” the team leader hissed in Yondu's face. 

 

For a second, Yondu froze, his old mentality came over him unexpected and he nearly fell to his knees to beg his master to forgive his insolence. He snapped back to present time when the team leader pushed his communication device into his hand.

 

“Make the call, the left side, Udonta, or I will make it known that you defied my order.” the team leader said with venom. 

 

“Yes sir.” Yondu said and took the com like on autopilot.  
  
  
But he was himself again in his head, just a temporary dip because everything sent him on a nostalgic trip, that was all. With dead eyes he moved to a quieter area where he didn’t risked being shot. The team leader went back to fighting off the smugglers. Yondu could already see that their team was winning, the smugglers was fighting more and more desperate. That was what made the track so concerning, the ones taking off on it hadn’t looked like they had been running from the battle. He pushed the button on the com. 

 

“Kraglin, are you there?”

 

***

 

Kraglin was still in the camp but they were not boring waiting for their teammates to come back on a successful mission, they were nervously listening for everything and watching out for smugglers. They were only three left in the camp, the guy he had put out the explosives with had been called for more ammo and he had left a while ago. The battle was still on in full and they were close enough to hear it clearly through the jungle. They couldn't see anything and that was why they had nearly been run down by a vehicle coming their way through the jungle to avoid the explosives. The smuggler had been as surprised as they had to ran into something out here and one in their group had smartly taken the intruder out before they had got their bearings and had fired their guns.  
Kraglin’s com suddenly cracked and the sound nearly scared him half to death. So it was his turn now to run towards the battle with more ammo?

 

“Kraglin, are you there?” Yondu’s voice was heard from the com.

 

“Yes sir, I’m here. Do you need more ammo?” 

 

“...Sure, send someone, it can’t hurt. But the team leader wants you to move my explosives. We are in a tight spot and I still got 2, 3 and 6 left.” Yondu said after a pause of thinking. 

 

“Oh, okay, sure thing, sir.” Kraglin said and signaling to one of his teammates. They nodded and went for their load of ammo. “Where do you need the explosives, sir?” Kraglin asked and started to walk in the direction of the explosives. He knew which ones they where, it was the ones he had question the placement off. 

 

“On the path, you know the big rock close to the group of those trees with big yellow fruits?”

 

“I think so sir, the one were that small track you talked about led to the right of it? Which side of that rock do you want them, sir?” 

 

There was a pause, and Kraglin wondered if the connection was broken. 

 

“Take the right one.”


	14. Crumble

Kraglin gathered together the three remaining explosives and went over to the right side of the rock. He placed them out with some space in between and took a step back to admire his handiwork. Well, that should hopefully do it, if some of those vehicles came past here they would probably get them. He should probably head over to the camp again now, wait for the next call when they needed more ammo. He was just about to turn around when he heard a sound out in the jungle. He had heard sounds all day but this was distinctive machinelike and not animal or plant like. Then he felt a vibration in when something big hit the ground. Panicked he peered through the jungle, the… steps (?) was heard again and again and they were getting closer. Then he saw it, the huge hulking mass of a machine coming through the jungle. “Shit.”

 It was simply build, massive legs with a massive gun and a small round thing on top where the ones operating it was sitting, Kraglin guessed. He didn’t have time to stand here and observe it any longer, the thing took big steps right towards the smugglers outpost. If it reached them, they would be in bad trouble. 

 

So Kraglin did what he had to do, he ran towards the outpost. The most Kraglin thing to do would had been to run the opposite direction but Yondu was there, he would be in danger. So Kraglin used his long legs and ran as fast as he could. He tried to contact Yondu, and the team leader, and anyone else he could think of, on the way over but no one answered, probably because they were busy shooting at the smugglers that was already in the outpost. Luckily for him the outpost wasn't far from the track, he already saw them, and his luck was holding again because behind a small container he spotted the team leader and Yondu ducking for cover. 

Panting he threw himself down next to them. 

 

“Hi greeny, got jealous and wanted to join the battle?” Yondu asked between whistling. 

 

“No sir, I move the explosive to the right side of the track, but-” Kraglin began but got interrupted. 

 

“YOU WHAT?! I GAVE ORDER THAT IT SHOULD BE PLACED ON THE LEFT SIDE!” the team leader suddenly screamed. 

Kraglin was taken by surprise at the outburst, not knowing anything about why they reacted that way. He didn’t have time for this. 

 

“Sir” Kraglin continued hurried and turned to Yondu again. “You was right, something was of with the track, they had a gigantic machine out there in the jungle, it’s on the way right now, you need to push the button.” 

 

Yondu and the team leader started at him for a few seconds, but Yondu gathered himself quicker. He suddenly got up from his spot and ran towards were the gigantic thing was closing in on them. Kraglin felt that he somehow needed to follow him. He ran after him and quickly ducked behind a big fallen tree just a couple of meters in. 

 

“Shit, that things is big. Is it too late to blow them?” Yondu asked with all his focus on the machine tearing a path through the jungle. It was thanks to that it still hadn't gotten very far, for once the jungle was on Kraglin’s side. Kraglin couldn't help it, he was trembling right now, half leaning over Yondu to see the places he had put the explosives. The adrenaline was flowing through his body and if it hadn't he would had been scared to death right now. 

 

“No sir, but you have to do it now.” 

 

Yondu did not hesitate, he flipped open all three triggers that was left and pushed them quickly one by one. Three explosives went off just when the big thing walked past the place they were. It wobbled vigorously, the smugglers tried to counter the movements but ended up overdoing it, the thing tried to take one step forward, and then started to lean a little bit too much on one side. 

 

“Here it comes.” Yondu whispered excited. 

 

The thing fell slowly and most ungracefully, like a log. The sound of the crash, of metal tearing and trees breaking, was deafening and the ground shook when it landed. 

 

“Good job, son.” Yondu said cheerfully and patted his shoulder. 

 

The compliment was so sincere and struck a chord in Kraglin that he didn’t want to think that he had. It threw him of and he found himself being called after when the centaurian rushed forward to deal with the smugglers. He hastily got up and ran after him. 

The gigantic thing was down, but so was not all the smugglers inside of it. They opened fire at them as soon they reached the metal carcass. It got rough, the smugglers had much heavier guns than Kraglin carried and Yondu could not get in a good enough position that he could aim with his arrow properly. The took out some, and paused for a moment against one of the machines sides. Yondu needed to catch his breath and Kraglin needed to reload, Yondu reminded him that he would need less reloading if he would actually hit the targets. Kraglin thought it was unfair, his aiming had improved significantly. But then Kraglin saw a hatch open in a presumed solid wall, just behind Yondu. He didn’t think twice about it, he acted on autopilot and muscle memory, the knife was in his hand before he had even fully registered what he saw. He let it fly, and it sank home deep in the throat of the smuggler. Yondu flipped around and stared at the man sinking dead down over the edge of the open hatch. He looked back over at Kraglin that only gave him a grim look. They didn’t mention anything about it, Kraglin just finished his reloading and they continued to diminish the smugglers. Kraglin could see Yondu looking at him differently through the whole thing though. 

 

***

 

After Yondu and Kraglin had dealt with the big machine and the smugglers in it they went back to help their own in the outpost. As Yondu had predicted they had already managed to deal with most of them and it didn’t take long before it all was over. Things would had been much different if the big thing would had reached them, then they would probably not have been alive. 

 

“Good work laddie, your sharp eyes saved our asses.” Tullk said ruffling Kraglin’s hair, after seeing the big pile of ruined metal. 

 

Kraglin got embarrassed over the praises but he secretly loved the attention he got, all the crew seemed thankful for what he had Yondu had done. Well, expect the team leader, they were absolutely fuming. Kraglin didn’t understand it still, he had asked Yondu about it but he had avoided the question, just said that the team leader probably was jealous that they landed the big score and not them. Kraglin got a feeling that was not the whole picture, especially considering the outburst the team leader had had when Kraglin had said were he put the explosives.  
  
He help load the smugglers goods on their own hovering platforms, it was a really big score. He saw someone take of a ravager flame and drop it on the ground. He looked questioning on them and they smiled at him with to many teeth. 

 

“Got to let them know who did it.” they said happily. 

 

Kraglin wondered if that was smart, would they not be a target now? But he was still to green so he guessed he didn’t know enough to judge that. He had to trust his superiors judgment instead. He continued to help load the loot but he made sure to remain far from the hovering platforms they loaded their fallen comrades on. He didn’t what to deal with dead bodies, his senses still hadn't registered the ones he had caused and he was working on adrenaline and was just waiting for that crash to come. Probably tonight when he was laying in his bunk trying to sleep, that was going to be fun.

They moved back the same way they had come. They had to stop at their own camp and pack it together. They hadn’t that much more ammo left, the smugglers had put up a good fight. Kraglin felt pity for the one guy left on the defensive team, he hadn't get to do anything more than to sit there and wait. Then again, maybe that was what he wanted, who was Kraglin to decide? 

The trek back took longer because they now had to cut a bigger path through the jungle for the hover platforms to pass. The smuggler had had ships of their own on in a glade a bit away that they found later, but they had smartly taken off when they had seen that they could not win against the ravagers. Kraglin was thinking that if the team leader had been smarter they would had ordered someone to stay behind in the M-ships for them to call, then they could have landed in the glade they found and they would be back much sooner. Instead they had to walk the whole way back through the jungle, and yes, it was much worse when you were already tired from fighting. 

 

***

 

They had reached the M-ships and loaded everything inside. Kraglin dumped his tired body down in a seat of Yondu’s M-ship. He just wanted to rest now, he really looked forward to getting his free time back at Stakar’s ship. What he had heard, he wouldn't even need to load off the loot, just waltz of the M-ship and let the their waiting crew handle it all. 

 

Things didn’t really go that way. Kraglin didn’t know why he bothered to imagine things all the time, they never went like he expected. When he came off the ship the captain, the first mate and a very buff foreman was waiting for him. They did not look happy, the far opposite actually. He nervously went towards them and did the ravager salute.

 

“Ehm, is everything alright, captain?” he asked hopefully and prayed the just looked angry because they had taken a long time to get through the jungle or something. 

 

“Mr Obfonteri, I spoke to the team leader over the com. They say you disobeyed a direct order.” Stakar said sternly. 

 

“Wait, what?” Kraglin surprised asked, that was not what he expected to hear. 

 

“Did you not put the explosives down on the right side of a rock?” 

 

“Well, yes I did?” Kraglin said confused, that was what he had been told to do? Was this about the team leaders outburst when he came back? But Yondu had said the right side. Hadn't he? 

 

“So you’re admitting that you disobeyed the order. Take him to the brig.” Stakar said seriously. 

 

“What?! No, wait, there must be some misunderstanding!” Kraglin panicked said, what was going on?

 

“Yondu! Yondu, explain to them!” Kraglin shouted when he saw Yondu coming out of his M-ship. 

 

He didn’t hear him though, he had his focus on only Stakar. Somehow Kraglin thought that Yondu looked guilty, like a child that got confronted by his parent after he had misbehaved. Then he lost sight of him when the foreman pulled him further down the corridor towards the brig. 

 

***

 

This was ridiculous, absurd, at this point Kraglin just wanted to laugh at it all. Instead he was sitting in his cell and staring at the wall. He was thinking back to what had happened down at the planet. He didn't know what was going on, it was something between Yondu and the team leader and he had been caught in it. He had just been starting to do good! Again… it was the same story, over and over. 

 

There was a sound of a door opening and Kraglin's bitter thoughts got interrupted.

 

"It's your own fault, Udonta. You maybe was right, and I'm sure the boys are thankful that you did it. But you still broke a direct order, and that is not okay no matter the outcome." a voice Kraglin did not know said. 

 

“Sometimes it's worth to take the blame if you can save lives” Yondu’s voice said. 

 

Two footsteps got closer and Kraglin could hear the door opposite his cell was opened. Then the door closed and one pair of footsteps walked away. 

 

He got up from his spot on the floor and walked over to his own door. There was a small hatch in the middle of the door where they usually pushed the food inside through. Kraglin had discovered that it was possible to open it from the inside the last time he was here. It was not big enough to get out though and you could only look at the cell opposite of you. But that last part was exactly what Kraglin wanted to do. 

 

“Yondu?”

 

It was quiet for a while, but then the hatch on the opposite cell opened, and the  
Centaurian’s face was visible in the small gap. 

 

“Kraglin? Why are you here?” 

 

“They said I went against a direct order, sir?”

 

“Oh. Didn’t think about that. I guess they would see you as a partner in crime.” Yondu sneered bitterly. “ They exaggerate, this was my doing, you had nothing to do with it.”

 

“Sir, what do you mean, partner in crime? Why are you here?” Kraglin asked confused. 

 

Yondu disappeared from the gap with a sigh, Kraglin could hear him slid down the door. He could even hear a small thunk when Yondu’s implant hit the door. 

 

“I was questioned by Stakar and company and found guilty of disobeying a direct order. It’s nothing big, they know I’m right, they are just very fond of their rules and regulations. They need to teach me a lesson, a slap on the wrist. Pathetic really, they all know the team leader is an idiot and was giving orders that would have killed us all. But is they here? No, they are not. Little shit contact Stakar and blab about it to make it look like their incompetence was because of me.” 

 

It was quiet again, Kraglin thoughts was spinning. They both was put here because the team leader had told Stakar they disobeyed an order? Irritated he slid down the door and sat down on the floor too. 

 

 

“They took you here right away? I didn’t see you at the questioning.” Yondu asked neutral after a while. 

 

“Yeah, Stakar just asked me in the hangar were I had put the last explosives and then they took me here. Sir, I don’t quite follow, was I not supposed to put them on the right side? But it took out the big one, was that not good?” Kraglin asked tired. 

 

“It was good. But this is the big world, son, good things don't always get rewarded.”

 

“I guess that’s why I’m always end up here then.” Kraglin muttered to himself. 

 

“You have been in the brig before?” Yondu asked curious. 

 

“Yeah, I overslept and missed a shift. It was just after the attack, if you remember, sir, you found me in the corridor and took me to your room to get me warm again. You said the common alarm was not heard in that part of the ship so I woke up too late and ran into Stakar on the way to the next one.” Kraglin said with a dead voice. 

 

“What?! They put you in the brig for that? But I show up late for shifts all the time, or not at all. That wasn't even your fault!” Yondu said irritated. 

 

“Well, I don’t know, sir. I don’t remember why I was asleep in a corridor so far from any sleeping quarters. If I hadn't I would had heard the alarm. And I had already been late before because I was lost and couldn't find my way to another shift in time. So it was not the first time. I keep messing things up too, with the artifact and the pyramid, and all that.” Kraglin said deflated. Thinking about it, it was not odd that they had taken him to the brig right away, he was always in the center of problems ever since he got onboard this ship. So he actually probably deserved to be here. 

 

“But that’s not… No. I still not see it as your fault, everyone can mess things up sometimes.” Yondu irritated stated. 

 

Kraglin wasn't sure he agreed, but he did not want to disagree so he was just quiet. They sat like that for a long while, thinking about things in their own small bubbles. 

Kraglin was thinking a lot about Keewau. He hoped someone told him he was in the brig again so he didn’t wonder were Kraglin where, or, even worse, thought he had been one of them that had died at the planet. 

 

***

 

“Was that your stomach?”

 

They had been locked up for about four cycles by now. At least Kraglin had counted to that. The guards did not speak to them but he counted how many time they got food and compared that with how many he had last time he was in here and how long he had been locked up then. So probably four. And he was getting really hungry. The mission on the jungle planet had cost him a lot of energy and he was back on half the diet again. He had gotten used to regular meals with extra portions, he had had enough money lately to have the extra all the time. The extra fat he had been struggling to add to his weight was now dwindling fast however. The parasite was used to get more, and it took it a couple of days before it got the message that the diet was changed. It had gotten the message now, and it was not happy. Kraglin was laying on the hard bunk in his cell, cradling his stomach while he tried to communicate with the stupid parasite to STOP wiggling around in the search for food. The regular meals had made Kraglin forget all about it’s presents, about how it felt when it moved inside of him, the nausea it caused, the fatigue. He wondered if he one day could get rid of it. Back at his home planet they had always said it was impossible, the parasite made sure of that, the nasty bugger was a fighter. But the outside world had a lot more to offer than they had had back home, so maybe it was possible? If it were, he would make sure he had it removed, he was tired of it’s shit. 

 

“Hey, are you dead? I asked if that pathetic growling sound was your stomach?” Yondu asked again. 

 

It was obvious he was bored. He had been very quiet the first two days but the more time went the more talkative he got. Kraglin was the other way, the more time that past, the sour his mood went. 

 

“Yeah, it was my stomach, sir. You may have noticed that they only serve half our portions in here?” Kraglin muttered. 

 

“Well, yeah, it’s supposed to be a punishment after all. I bet it affect you a lot, you probably haven’t gone a day without food in your life.” Yondu sniggered. 

 

“What do you mean?” Kraglin asked tired, not focused enough to properly listen to him.  

 

“Aw, come on, you know what I mean, rich people only ever read about starvation in the news, they fast for a day and say they are healthy. Rich folks don’t know anything about what real hunger means, what you are ready to do to get that next meal.” Yondu said.

There was a hint of sharpness behind his words, he was looking for a argument. Kraglin did not bite the bait.  
Right, the rich kid thing. Kraglin had honestly forgot about it. He had been aboard long enough now that people had lost interested and he spent most time around people that didn’t care who he had been before. Lately he had been the ‘ravager Obfonteri’ more than ‘that new rich brat’. It was a really nice change actually, he was sick and tired of that story. Again he was contemplating telling Yondu, just get it over with. But he was close to both Martinex and Stakar and Kraglin was not sure if Yondu would tell them and how they would react. He certainly hadn't shown that he was good enough to compensate for the age gap and for them to look between their fingers. They would probably dump him off at the nearest orphanage. 

 

Kraglin scrunched up his face, same thoughts kept spinning in his head all the time. It was exhausting. He had been aboard the ship for… 144 cycles now, and still, he didn’t know what to do about the whole thing. He had hoped people would just forget about it. And they had, most of them, but then some, like the asshole in the cell opposite of his, had to bring it up again and remind him that this maybe was a issue that would never go away. It was, maybe, something he had to tell someone about and take the consequences off. 

 

Yondu would probably not believe a word he said if he told him the truth. It was odd, because he had shown that he believed anything else Kraglin said, which was very nice, but about that? It was just something bitter about Yondu’s tone whenever he spoke about Kraglin being rich. Like, he didn’t mind Kraglin, but the (not true) fact that he was a rich xandarian was something he had issues with accepting. Kraglin didn’t really know much about Yondu’s history, maybe something had happened to him that made him anti elitists?

Kraglin really just wanted to tell him to wash of that smug tone he had. It was infuriating to have to live a year on Xandar digging rotten food from trash cans, beg for scraps, steal as much you could without getting caught and beaten, to still always go hungry, and then have someone think he was handfed the most exquisite food there were. 

 

Tell Keewau that him being rich was a lie? No, not good, he needed to recover from his injury, he didn’t need any problems to think about at all. 

Tell Tullk? Tullk already suspected that something was off, he already knew Kraglin hadn't money. He guessed it was obvious, as Tullk had said, from the way he looked, moved and talked, that he was not what he said he was. The only reason the others bought the story was because their jealousy and dislike of the rich kind blinded them. 

Tell Tullk he crashed the party because he was going to steal things but leave out the little bit about where he was from and how old he really was? Tullk seemed like a nice guy… it would be nice to get it off his chest, have one big thing less to worry about. But Tullk was close to Yondu, and smart, Kraglin didn’t know if he maybe figured out that he lied about more if he told him some? He needed to think about that some more. He knew he postponed it because he was a coward, but this shit was not easy, and he had no one to talk about it with. 

 

***

 

A door was opened a few hours later… or minutes, who knew? And Kraglin hoped that it was food but he knew he would not be in such luck. He hastily got up from his bunk when he heard that Yondu’s door got opened.

 

“You can go.” the guard said to the centaurian. 

 

Kraglin looked out through the food hatch. Yondu was sitting on his bunk and looked unfazed but slightly surprised. 

 

“Well, that was short?” he drawled and made no motion of getting up.

 

He looked cool doing so according to Kraglin, like he had total control of the situation and did not care. Kraglin would probably had stumble in his haste to get out of the cell. 

 

“The captain needs you for a mission.” the guard just answered gruff. 

 

Yondu finally got up from his bunk and walked out of the cell. 

 

“What about him?” he asked and pointed a thumb with a sharp nail at Kraglin. 

 

“They don’t need him, he stays.”

 

Yondu looked bothered at the guard, but did not say anything and followed him out without any fuss. 

 

Kraglin was left behind, one hand hanging out of the food hatch and with a miserable look on his face.

 

Great, and now he was alone. 


	15. The truth

In the morning, four cycles after Yondu had been let out, the guard finally came to get Kraglin out also. The guard was in a good mood and wished Kraglin a good day, Kraglin wanted to shove something sharp into his throat. Kraglin was in a very bad mood because he had slept very bad the last days and he was exhausted. He got his things back, his boots and his watch and some other odds and ends he kept in his pockets. He looked at his watch, it was late in the early cycle. His first four hour shift was beginning very soon. So it was just to head over there right away basically, no point of going back to his sleeping quarters even if he really really wanted to shower right now. He had gone straight from a mission to the cell, he still had some dried smugglers blood on his clothes. And he stunk. He would not even have time to stop by Keewau and see how he was doing, he just got time to send him a quick message that he was out of the brig and that he would see him as soon as he got spare time. But right now, he much rather have breakfast. So he jogged down to the mess hall to grab something on the way. 

 

Yes, the mess hall was closed. 

 

Kraglin was now 100 percent sure they did that on purpose, gave you half the food ration and then let you out just after the mess hall closed as a last fuck you as punishment. Frustrated he slammed his hand in the metal jalousie, accomplishing nothing more than hurting his hand. Irritated he stormed out of the mess hall and went for the first shift. He would make sure he did not come late. He would make sure he would ignore all the rude comments and whistling when he showed up and he would make sure to take any stupid tasks Raymento gave him no matter how boring, tiring or demeaning they were. Because he had done this before, and he was pissed and in a mood for a fight, so he would prove all the idiots on this ship that he could take any shit they gave him.

 

Four hours later and he had made it through the comments and the shity tasks. He had ignored the crew that made fun of him and he had worked very hard and so thoroughly that Raymento had actually been a bit appeased at the end of the shift. He was exhausted now, to a point where he nearly didn’t recognize it anymore and walked on autopilot. He had overdone himself a bit, he had to admit that, he was dizzy now and the parasite did not stop making its displeasure known. Well, he was on his way to lunch now, so it could shut up. 

 

He stood impatiently in the line and waited for his time to get his food while simultaneously texting a explanation to Keewau to why he had been in the brig at all. There were always a lot of people here this time of the cycle but there were surprisingly few inside the mess hall. Maybe he had gotten a head of the big crowd? 

Or it could be, which Kraglin found out when he got his food, that the food for today was right up nasty. He nearly gagged when he put the first scoop in his mouth. But he was hungry and tired of all the shit so he ignored it and shoved it as fast as he could down his throat, the less time it spent in his mouth the less he had to taste it. He needed the nutrition and for it to calm the parasite, that was far less picky than him. 

 

***

 

His second shift was just a repeat of the first one and Raymento had already forgotten that he had done a good job at the first one it seamed. 

Something was off though. Kraglin was not feeling very well. His stomach was doing somersaults. That could be the parasite, but he had just feed it so it should had calmed down, and it didn’t quite feel like it use to. He was feeling cold and was sweating at the same time, he was shaky too. Several of the other ravagers did not look so well either, some of them even left because of it. Another foreman came by and asked Raymento it he had crew that was not feeling well, it seemed to be all over the ship but not everyone was feeling unwell, they suspected that the food at the lunch had been bad, all that was feeling unwell had eaten the same thing. 

 

Kraglin asked Raymento if he could leave too like the others had, but Raymento had said no. Kraglin thought that was unfair but Raymento said he had a lot to catch up to after being locked up for eight cycles. Raymento changed his mined two seconds later when Kraglin opened his mouth to argue and instead puked all over his shoes. 

 

Kraglin had been let go and he had went to take a shower right away. He had spent a lot of time in the, not so warm, stream of water, mostly because he thought he deserved it, but also because he puked again. There were a lot of others suffering from it too, all the toilets was occupied with vomiting people it seemed. Kraglin felt like he had been mangled, he was dizzy and felt weak. He went to his sleeping quarters but his bed was occupied. Yes, because it was not his turn to sleep yet and they had only still got enough beds for him to not have to sleep on the floor when it finally was his turn. He stood and stared at the crew mate in his bed for a long time, but there were no point. A thought came to his mind, that he had help store some package some days ago that had been semi soft, he had even thought about laying down on them earlier that day. So why not make that a reality? Tired he started to walk towards the storage room. Raymento would probably not like him sleeping on their goods but if he had a problem he could get Kraglin a damn bed he could lay down in. He hadn't even bothered to check the medical bay, he was sure it was filled to the brim with crew by now. 

 

He finally arrived at the storage area and managed after a long time to, in the dim light, find the right one were he had been earlier. With a sigh he lay down on the packages, they weren’t that soft but it still felt like balm to Kraglin’s tired body. He hadn’t puked in a while so if he got to rest for a bit maybe it would went over and he would feel fine again?

 

***

 

Several hours later he drowsy woke up. It took him a long time to gathered were he was. In a storage room, right. A orloni had woken him up, it had started to nibbled at him. Irritated he kicked it away and it scurried with a squeak to a corner and disappeared. He sat up and scratched his head. The parasite was not happy, it was pissed, more so than it had been in a long time. Kraglin could understand it, it had been used to regular food, then it suddenly had to suffer eight cycles of less than half of that food. And then Kraglin had gone and made them sick so they had lost all. It furiously squirmed around inside. With a flinch Kraglin could feel that it took a bite out of him. It felt kind of like if you suddenly got a surge in stomach acid, just a lot more painful and a lot lot scarier. 

 

“Calm down, calm down, I’ll get you food, cut it out.” Kraglin said to it gingerly. This was not good. 

 

He got up from the packaged he had been sleeping on, he had to pause for a moment to let the dizziness settle. He checked his watch, it was late, he had missed dinner and even his last shift. Oops, he guessed he had slept longer than he had thought. He hoped Raymento would accept that, he had obviously been sick and several others had been it too, so according to Kraglin, that should be valid to not be put in the brig again. Honestly he was not sure if the would make it if he was put in there again, the parasite was not to play with. He liked to tone it down and not pretend it existed but it scared him, it really did. If he was not careful, it could kill him, that was a possibility. It preferred to live in symbiosis with him for most of the time, but it was not a symbiote, it was a parasite. Kraglin had been so used to it back home, many had had it there, but here at the ship no one had one, they would probably freak out and put him in quarantine if the found out about it. It made it more obvious that it was not normal to live like he did, with it, that it was actually a bad thing that he just had place in the normal category because he was used to it. 

 

Kraglin had started to walk towards the kitchen, because there really wasn’t anything more to do, he needed food asap. If he could get food the parasite would calm itself down and he could go back to pretend everything was fine and continue to put out all the other fires his life consisted of. 

 

Ah, yes, the kitchen was closed. Was there ever any doubt that it would not be closed? Kraglin hunched over when the parasite bit him again. 

 

“Stop it! We’ll get food somewhere else!” he hissed at it. 

 

He thought for a second, then came up with an idea. The kitchen was closed, but he didn’t need cooked food, he could take anything really as long as it was edible. Fruits, vegetables, ration bars. The kitchen got their supplies from a storage room, all he had to do was to walk over to it at get food straight from the source. He knew that the kitchen got their supplies from a different storage room than he usually worked in, and that it was close by. 

 

It took him some while of wandering around but he managed to find the place. He was dizzy, weak and felt like shit but he was hopeful when he opened the door. 

 

The place was bigger than he thought, who knew that they ate so much? There was a desk for a quartermaster, but it was empty. They probably were somewhere around, checking inventory or something. Kraglin decided after the parasite bit him again that he did not have time to wait and went to check out the goods on his own. 

He still was not any good at reading Xandarian and other common languages so after a while of wandering around he decided to start to lift the lid on boxes and see what was inside. It was hard to open, his body was not really cooperating with him anymore. He finally got some of them off and after the fourth try managed to find some kind of beet that look like you could eat it raw. 

He had just put it in his mouth when two people walked around the corner and found him. 

 

“What the-? What do you think you’re doing?” one of the persons said angrily and came closer. 

 

“I’m just eating, the kitchen was closed and I needed food.” Kraglin said innocent. 

 

“You wait for the kitchen to open if you need food, you don’t just waltz in here and steal it!” the other person said and came up to Kraglin.

 

_These people was really big and buff, were they guards?_

 

“I didn’t steal it! This food is for the crew, and I’m crew, I missed the dinner because I was sick. So that means there is food to spare. ” Kraglin said insulted and tried to take another bite out of the beet. 

 

“Stop it! You can’t just do that.” the first guard said irritated and yanked the beet out of Kraglin’s hand. “You have to talk to the quartermaster for things like that.”

 

“I would have talked to them but they were not here. Give it back to me!” Kraglin said aggressive. He could feel his second row of teeth creeping forwards, you do not take food from a desperate man. 

 

“I’m not giving it back, you’re stealing! That is against the code! You're not allowed to steal from other ravagers.” the guard said irritated. 

 

The other one took a big step forwards and Kraglin suddenly felt trapped. The insinuation of the guards sentence caught up with him. They thought he was breaking a code, that meant they would put him in the brig again wouldn’t they? The second guard put his hand on Kraglin’s shoulder and he got panicked. 

 

“Wait! Wait! I just needed some food, I didn’t think that was breaking the code! Come on, just let me have it and let me go back to my sleeping quarters, it’s just a beet.” Kraglin yelped panicked. 

 

“What is going on here?”

 

The three people at the scene turned around when they heard the voice. It was uttered from an older man with a long white beard and a third eye in his forehead. Kraglin guessed this was the quartermaster. Next to him, also drawn by the commotion, was… Yondu? The centaurian looked as surprised to see Kraglin there as Kraglin was to see him. 

 

“Yondu? Sir, I thought you was on a mission? Kraglin asked without thinking. 

 

“I was, I just got back and was handing over some boxes I picked up on the way. What are you doing here? Yondu asked skeptic and looked at the two guards Kraglin was standing between. 

 

“You know this person?” one of the guards asked Yondu. 

 

Kraglin used the distractions to break free of their grip but he stayed next to them. 

 

“He is Kraglin Obfonteri, one of our crew. Care to explain what is going on?” Yondu asked neutral, seemingly unsure on how he was going to interpret the situation.

 

“Well, we just caught Mr Obfonteri red-handed, he was stealing from the storage room.” the first guard answered guarded.

 

“I’m trying to tell-” Kraglin hysteric tried to explain again and turned to Yondu fast. 

 

He didn’t get to finish the sentence because his vision blacked out and he went unconscious. 

 

***

 

Yondu had just gotten back from the mission. He had understood why Stakar needed him on that one, it had been a solo one and very bloody, not the kind the captain sent most of his crew on. Stakar didn’t like to send him on this kinds either though, he wanted to spare him that, but they both knew it needed to be done and suited Yondu's expertise well.

Martinex had called on the way back and asked him to pick up some boxes for the kitchen. They had apparently had to thrown away some food that had gone bad and needed restocking in some areas. 

It had been late when he came back but the quartermaster had still been up so he had dropped off the boxes and chatted with the man for a bit. 

They had been interrupted by voices and had gone to check out what it was. Yondu had been surprised to say the least when they ran into Kraglin. The guards accused him of stealing food. The stupid boy probably didn’t get how serious taking food was, he was probably just hungry for a late snack. Kraglin had turned to him and started to explain when Yondu had seen his eyes turn in their sockets.

 

Without thinking Yondu threw himself forward and managed to catch him before he fell to the floor. 

 

“Kraglin? Kraglin, do you hear me?” he asked anxious and shook him gently. 

 

Kraglin woke up a bit, he was not unconscious, but he was not very present either. 

 

“What happened?” one of the guards asked surprised. 

 

“I don’t know, he just went out?” Yondu said serious . Kraglin opened his eyes a little bit more, he looked confused to why he was on the floor and Yondu holding him. 

 

“He said something about being sick before?” the other guard said worried. 

 

“He did? I hope it’s not contagious.” the quartermaster muttered and took a step back. 

 

“Kraglin, do you hear me?” Yondu tried again. Kraglin turned his head towards him but he looked groggy and unfocused. “Okay, Kraglin, I’m going to take you to the medical bay, okay? We need to have you checked. Come on, stand up.”

 

Yondu put his arms under the boys and pulled him up. It always surprised him how little he waited, it was unnerving. Kraglin somewhat stood up, not enough for Yondu to dare to let him go but he seemed to be at least present enough to understand what was expected of him.

 

“Okay, that’s good, now let's walk, okay?” Yondu said softly and started to half lead, half drag him out of the storage room. 

 

It felt like it took forever for them to reach the med bay, Kraglin was in and out of it for the whole way. Yondu texted the doctor so she was ready when they got there. Keewau was there too, his room was in conjunction with the med bay so the doctor could keep an eye on him. 

 

“Yondu, what have happened?” he asked worried and looked down at Kraglin.

 

“Hi Keewau.” the boy muttered tired. 

 

“Hi Krags, you look like shit.” Keewau smiled. 

 

Honestly Yondu thought they both looked like shit. Keewau had lost a lot of weight and muscles, Yondu hadn’t visited him that often if he had to confess. It did not go him unnoticed that Keewau, even if he was up now and walking, had to hold on to the exterior to not fall over. Yondu wasn't a doctor, but it didn’t look like he was taking greats steps towards recovery. 

 

“I don't know what happened, I ran into him in the storage room, the guards accused him of stealing food and we were in the middle of a conversation when he blacked out.” Yondu answered and gently put Kraglin down on one of the beds. 

 

“His name is Kraglin?” the doctor asked while she took out a small flashlight and shone it in Kraglin’s eyes. 

 

“Yup, Kraglin Obfonteri.”

 

“Mr Obfonteri, do you have any known medical issues?” the doctor asked and took out a pad to pull up his data. “Nothing.” she muttered to herself. 

 

“I’m fine.. just… just been a bit irregular with food, that’s all.” Kraglin slurred  half awake and tried to get up from bed. 

“Oh no, you stay there.” Yondu said sternly and put a hand on him to make him stay in bed. 

 

“irregular food? The information on you don’t say anything about diabetes or any other disease. I’m going to take a blood sample.”

 

“I’m.. I’m fine, I don’t want any samples.” Kraglin muttered, not really there. Both Yondu and Keewau gave each other a look. 

“I have already taken it Mr Obfonteri.” the doctor said over at some testing machine that she had been standing at for a couple of minutes already, after taking Kraglin's blood sample without him noticing it. 

 

Yondu knew something was wrong. He could see it on the doctors face. The way her eyes widened and her frenetic looking back and forth between test result, data pad and Kraglin.  

Then she seemed to make a decision, picked something from a cupboard and went over to them. 

 

“What’s wrong?” Yondu asked bluntly. 

 

“Basically, he’s starving, but more rapidly that an Xandarian would. So I’m going to give him something to boost that and then I would like you to head over to the storage room, with my authorisation this time and not just pick as please, and grab energy bars and other kinds of food with a lot of nutrition and energy.” the doctor answered with her back turned to Yondu, putting the IV in place. She smacked Kraglin’s hand away when he tried to pull it out again. 

 

“Hu? But you looked so surprised? I thought it was something serious but you’re saying the stupid rich xandarian is only hungry?” Yondu asked jokingly, and slightly relieved. 

 

The doctor turned to him with a sigh. 

 

“Not really. Something caused this rapid starvation. The test show signs of something, a substance secreted from a parasite. I have only ever read about it due to the fact that it lives in isolated population of species, mostly population living beneath the earth. It do not occur amongst xandarians.” the doctor said serious.

 

Kraglin seemed to be more present now, the thing the doctor had given him seemed to work fast. It looked like he listened to her. He looked up at her at least, and Yondu could see he looked both terrified and relieved. 

 

“Wait, what do you mean?” Yondu asked irritated and held up his hands in a stop motion. 

 

“I’m afraid my test shows that your friend Obfonteri's data is counterfeited, he is not a xandarian, he is not from Xandar at all. Most likely, judging by the components from the test, he is from as small mining planet in the FAr8-sector.”

 

“Kraglin is not a xandarian?” Yondu repeated shocked. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh shit


	16. The confession

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a shorter middle chapter because I couldn’t find any good point were to cut it of from the rest.
> 
> This was hard to write because it’s emotions and talking about feelings with characters that most of the time avoid those kind of things. So it was hard to still stay in character with them.   
> It’s a very important moment in the story and I have been somewhat dreading it because I'm nervous about it - but I needed to have it in there so here we are.

Kraglin had been aboard the ship for almost 150 cycles. That was 150 cycles more than he had ever planned and about 150 cycles longer than he had planned for his fake ID to hold. He had been worried that he would not even get through the doors to the rich peoples party, he had never expected it to fool everyone for that long. But still, here he was, having his secret exposed by a blood sample. He had had nearly 150 cycles to cough up the truth but he had postpone it, hoped they would forget about it, thought he would never need to spill the beans. And now, everything came crumbling apart in less than a day.   
He had woken up today thinking it would be just like every other day, him stuck in the brig. The swift turn of events made him dizzy… or that could just be because of the parasite. He had three people standing around him, staring shocked after hearing the truth. Two of those people Kraglin held dear, two people he never would have lied to today. Not about something that big at least. Yondu and Keewau was two of the people onboard that Kraglin the least wanted to find out. _Why could it not had been some random crew member?_

 

He felt so stupid, and dumb, for lying to them, for getting caught with it. Their shock and disbelief physically hurt him. He was a fraud, they didn’t really know him, he was no better than the traitor they had caught a while back. He couldn't stand their eyes any longer, so he ashamed looked away. 

 

 

“It’s true.”

 

 

“What? No, no, what do you mean it’s true? Kraglin?” Yondu wanted to know. 

 

“I’m not a xandarian, my ID is counterfeit. I’m from a mining planet in the FAr8-sector, just as the doctor said.” Kraglin said clearly and pressed his eyes together hard. He had thought about saying those words many times. It was both so relieving and so terrifying that that day now had come. 

 

“Your ID is fake? Why are your ID fake?!” Yondu demanded to know, he was starting to work up his temperament. He was furious, and confused. Kraglin understood why. “Why do you have a fake ID and pretend that you are a xandarian? Dammit boy, you have been aboard this ship and for all this time you have been lying to us?"

 

Keewau was not saying anything, Kraglin nearly thought that was worse, he didn’t know what he was thinking. Kraglin opened his eyes and quickly looked at Keewau, just to see his reaction. He looked blank, like the air had gone out of him. Kraglin hated himself for doing this to him, especially now, why did this had to happen now when Keewau was weak and needed to rest? He didn’t need to find out that his so called friend had lied to him from the beginning. Kraglin wanted to crawl out of his skin, it disgusted him to be in his own body.

 

“Obfonteri! I asked you a question.” Yondu’s voice snapped through his focus. He was still a bit foggy after… _did he pass out in that storage room?_

 

“I’m sorry.” Kraglin answered and tried to look away but Yondu grabbed his cheek and turned it back. 

“I don’t want your stupid sorry, I want the truth.” Yondu said.  
He was all up Kraglin’s face now, his foul breath something Kraglin could focus on far to easy. 

 

“I didn’t mean to lie, never. I only got the fake ID to get into that fancy party you found me at. I was there to steal shit from them just as you were. Xandarian just happened to be something I could pass as. Then the Nova corps attacked, and you took me hostage. Nothing really went as planned. It was chaos and when I got aboard this ship the ID got scanned and I didn’t really understand first what it meant. But everyone assumed that I was this rich xandarian so I just kept up the act. I wasn't planning on staying, I wasn't planning anything, it just happened.” Kraglin ended lame and pulled away from Yondu. 

“It just happened? You just happened to continue to lie to us? Who are you? You’re not rich either then? Well, that would actually explain a lot. The way you move and talk. Why you only eat porridge and never buy better stuff, and all the other times when you could had bought things you needed and wanted but never did,” Yondu spit pissed.”You know, I used to think that ‘oh, this rich guy is actually ok, he’s not flashing his money like the rest of them always does’. How stupid of me to not see.” Yondu muttered and walked a circle in the room to calm himself down after the doctor had given him a sharp eye. 

 

“I’m sorry, please understand. I didn’t mean for it to be like that. I’m a street urchin, I grew up with nothing on my planet. I worked in the mines and I would have worked there until I died. I couldn't… I had to get out of there, I wanted a better life, I didn’t want to die in the underground, without never even had seen the sky. But Xandar wasn't easy either, that party was my chance to a better life. And… I was worried, worried that… if you knew who I really was, just a nobody from a hole somewhere in the universe, you would not want to keep me. I mean… the ship is crowded and you are a gang of ruthless pirates… I guess I was afraid you would throw me out in the void. And when I got to know you better I was already so deep into the lie that I just… kept it up.” Kraglin mumbled quietly. 

 

He was beginning to feel dizzy and tired again. The parasite was furious and doing it’s best to get his attention but there were nothing he could do for it. So he thought at least, he had forgotten that there were a doctor in the room. 

“Mr Obfonteri, are you feeling worse again?” the doctor intervened and came back to the bed to check her instrument and datapads better. “ I’m suspecting that you have a parasite from your home world. Is this something that seems possible?” 

 

“Yeah, I have one. I have just had some irregular food intake lately. I have been in the brig for a while, half the rations in there. The mess hall was closed when I got out so I had to work through morning shift without anything to eat.” Kraglin answered and looked away. He didn’t want to see his friends faces when he told them he had a nasty parasite inside of him. Most people freaked out when they found out, he had learn that the hard way on Xandar. 

 

“Ah. And let me guess, you was one of them that got food poisoning earlier this day? That would have made the situation much worse, right?” she hummed and did things on her datapad. 

 

“Yeah, definitely worse, the little thing is having a real party on my intestines right now.” Kraglin moan and tipped his head back when nausea hit him again. 

 

“Well, that is not good. Mr Udonta, could you please go and fetch that food I asked about earlier? I understand that this all have been a shocking turn of event but if you are eager to have answers from Mr Obfonteri I would suggest that you help him, or he won't be around for much longer to be able to answer them.” the doctor said grimly. 

“Wait, do you mean Kraglin is going to die, like now? But I thought he was just a little hungry?” Yondu asked her shocked and was pulled from his angry walking in circles. 

“Mr Udonta, he is starving, not a little hungry. And it sounds like the parasite is starving too, with means is probably eating on him as we speak. I thought what I just gave him would make it dormant but I guess it’s tougher than that. That means, no more delay, away you go.” the doctor said sternly and shooed Yondu away as she simultaneously pumped in another shot in the IV with the stuff she had given Kraglin before. 

 

Keewau was still just standing quiet next to him, it was killing Kraglin. 

 

“Keewau, please, Keewau, just say something.” he begged his friend. 

 

Kraglin was unable to look at him, he pressed his eye together, moist was gathering in his lashes. Then he felt Keewau’s warm fingers on his hand, unsure, but then they made up their mind and intervened with Kraglin’s. Kraglin had never felt so relieved in his whole life when he felt his hand being carefully squished. 

 

“Kraglin, you stupid, stupid boy, why did you not trust me?” Keewau asked quiet and sad. 

“I’m sorry, I am, I truly am.” Kraglin was crying for real now. He pulled Keewau's hand closer to his face, against his cheek. 

“You are my friend Kraglin, even, if I may say so, you are a more like a little brother to me than anything else. You can trust me. I’m sad that I have not made that clear to you. 

“You have, I’m just stupid and scared. It just, everything just did not went like I had planned and I… just really didn’t know how to handled it, an just got caught in the mess more and more.” Kraglin sobbed, both warmed to the core and ashamed over that Keewau thought of him as a little brother. In true, Kraglin had always seen Keewau as a big brother himself. 

 

“I don’t care from which planet you are from, or which species you are, or how much money you have. I know you, as a person, and I know you are hardworking, serious and funny. Mostly funny because you’re a mess.” Keewau added with a smile and dried away a tear from Kraglin’s cheek. 

 

Kraglin pulled a grimace at that and Keewau laugh at him and ruffled his hair. It was such a wholesome moment that it physically hurt Kraglin. Both because he had long for something like that for a long time and because it made the fact that he had lied so much worse. Could Yondu come back and yell at him for being a worthless worm?

 

“It doesn't change anything, this knowledge, you know, you're still a ravager abroad Stakar Ogord’s ship, your past doesn't matter. It’s nice to get all the lies out of the way right, isn't it?” Kraglin? Kraglin, what is it?”

 

Kraglin turn his face away from Keewau. _Why did he have to say that?_ Wasn't the non Xandarian part and the parasite part enough? Kraglin couldn't, _no, no no_ , he could not tell him about his age. But shit, he could not lie to him either, not after what had just been said. Kraglin crawled together like a ball and wrapped his arms around his knees, tucked his head deep down so he could not see Keewau or the world. He was a coward. Everything was too much, he had not anticipated to tell all this, and he didn’t want to tell more of it. He didn’t know what to do. Keewau said he didn’t care, but the age part was not really something you could shrug your shoulders at that easily, it had consequences. They weren’t alone in the room either, the doctor was there too and age you could not see that simple in a blood test. Kraglin thought so at least. He didn’t know how she would react. 

 

As a saving angel, Yondu chose that moment to be back from the storage room with food. 

 

“Here, eat something so you don’t die.” Yondu remarked bitterly, he was still, rightfully so, pissed. 

 

Kraglin would have wanted to say he had some grace and dignity but really, he hadn't. As soon as the food landed in front of him he threw himself at it and shoved it in his face. Maybe somewhat to buy himself time to think up a plan that got him out of this situation. Keewau was looking at him with a hurt and concerned expression, he knew that Kraglin was hiding more, and he knew that Kraglin was looking for a way to avoid telling him. _Dammit, why did he have to be so smart?_

Yondu was standing at the bed, rocking up and down on his feet. He was too irritated to stand still it seemed. 

 

“I guess I understand why you did not tell the truth in the beginning, who doesn't want to be special? Rich important guy.” Yondu suddenly started up again, unable to contain himself. “But why keep it up? Everyone was looking down at you for being rich, everyone thought you was soft and pathetic because we all thought you grew up with a silver spoon in your mouth. Why go all this time and take that shit from everybody?” 

 

Kraglin did not answer him, he focused on his food and pretended he saw them as air, even of every word Yondu said hurt. 

 

“I’m mad at you. Especially because you make me feel bad over looking down at you for being rich. Dammit boy, you even said it, you snapped, just after that attack on the ship and they were going down to the planet in preparation for the repairs. You said you were tired of being called rich brat. But you let me burst and yell at you for being spoiled. Why did you let me do that?! Yondu demanded to know frustrated. 

 

Kraglin had eaten all the food now, so instead he had taken to stare down on a very interesting lose thread on the bed. Yondu was getting harder to ignore though, he was leaning over him, and his implant was flashing. 

 

“You could just have told us the truth, you know us by now, you know we would not have thrown you off because you were not rich, on the contrary. Keeping up with the lie just makes it worse.” Yondu ranted on. 

Kraglin worked hard with keeping tears back, it was rough when Yondu was up in his face yelling at him, he didn’t like making him mad. He didn’t want to cry in front of Yondu either. Keewau was fine, that was different, he could be soft in front of him. But not in front of Yondu. 

 

 

“The reason you didn’t tell, it’s because of the part you have not told us about yet, isn't it?” Keewau asked quiet. There was a sharpness to his tone, something that said that he was giving Kraglin a last chance to spill the beans, that this was his redemption moment. 

“What? There is more?” Yondu asked surprised and temporarily got off his angry rant. He found it quickly again. “Boy! Is there more you are not telling us? You spit that out right away, we had had enough of this shit now.” Yondu demanded. 

Kraglin felt like a school child and curled up into a safe ball again. Why couldn't they just leave him alone? He didn’t want to tell them, he just wanted to be left alone. He started to cry again, hidden behind his arms. It was just too much. 

“Boy, last chance or I’ll make you sorry for lying to us!” Yondu threatened him. 

 

 

“I’m fourteen.” 

 

 

“What did you say?” Yondu asked after hearing Kraglin's muffled answer. 

 

“I didn’t tell anyone about the truth, about the fake ID, because then you would find out that I’m only fourteen!” Kraglin said defiant and looked up. “Ravagers don’t deal in children, and I’m a child. I don’t know how you would react to that. Kill me? Lock me up in the brig until I turn 18? I don’t want to be dropped off at some stupid orphanage on the closest planet either so I kept my mouth shut.” Kraglin rushed out his answer before he lost courage. 

 

Yondu shocked took a step back and went quiet.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did it take me to chapter 16 before Kraglin finally had to confess his lies? Ah, yes it did, this is not a smut/love story but it’s slow burn anyway...


End file.
